ATA: The Eggman Saga
by Solerwolf21
Summary: The gang is back with the next part of the ATA trilogy. Eggman is finally showing his face and with Eggman comes a new battle but also new faces.
1. Chapter 1

_Let's start again guys!_

 _ **A New Battle**_

 _ **(?)**_

"Why is it so dark? I can't even see two feet in front of me." Soler stood in a pitch black void.

 _Where am I and why am I here?_ He fretted.

 _ **"You're time is running out."**_ He looked around for the voice, but found no one.

"Hello?" He got no response.

 _ **"I will be in control."**_ Again, the voice was not attached to a body he could see.

"What do you want? Show yourself!" He demanded of the darkness.

 _ **"You will fade!"**_ the voice shouted sounding like it was coming from everywhere at once. Soler took a defensive stance and tried to form a Spear. He failed.

 _ **"I'm in control now. You will give in, or you will die!"**_ In that moment, Soler felt something and turned around. A dark tendril shot out at him.

Soler launched up in his bed, sweating and breathing harshly. He looked outside to see the sun shining bright for the new day. He looked over the side of the bed, where Wolf slept soundly in his curled up position.

 _Just a dream_ , he sighed in relief. Soler then looked down to his hand and tried to form a Spear, still unable to.

"I still can't form a simple Spear yet!" He groaned, waking Wolf up. Wolf yawned and began stretching before walking over to Soler, concerned. He placed his head on Soler's lap and whined weakly. Soler calmed himself smiled slightly as he petted Wolf. "Don't worry, boy. It's nothing. I'm sure my powers will come back today." He said. Wolf barked happily and licked the side of his face. He then walked over to the door and made a motion to Soler. Soler chuckled, knowing what he meant.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting up." Soler got out of bed and put his shoes on. He then opened the door and the two began their way to the kitchen, Soler brooded on his lack of powers. It had been two months since he fought Neo and he still couldn't use his Chaos Energy. With every passing day, he worried that he'd never get them back. Of course, he did his best to not show it to the others, especially Luna. He didn't want any of them to worry about him.

 _I'll figure this out someday._ Soler and Wolf walked into the kitchen, and found Shadow reading a paper, Twilight and Spike cooking breakfast, Sonic reading the comics, and Starlight brushing out her mane.

"Morning, everyone." He said. They all greeted in return and Soler went to fill Wolf's bowl with food. Wolf delightfully began to dig in after Soler poured the food into his bowl.

"Ya know, it's a wonder how you're used to eating dog food, boy. I thought you want just meat to eat."

"Well, wolves do tend to adjust to their living environments." Twilight said, "He probably got used to it a few weeks into living here, so he probably just sees it as normal now." Soler looked back to Wolf and petted his head before opening the fridge and pulling out an apple. He took a seat next to Sonic, who was snickering at the comics.

"I'm guessing there's some pretty good ones today?" He asked.

"Oh yeah! These ponies know what they're doing with these comics." Sonic responded. Soler smirked and ate his apple. He turned his attention to Shadow, who quietly read the paper.

"So Shadow, any news today? Or is it all just mundane stuff?"

"Well, there are some reviews on Rarity's latest line of clothes, something about some sports team making a comeback victory, and more idle gossip. There was also a brief article about some strange sightings of some creature." He said.

"So the mundane then?" Soler inquired.

"The mundane indeed." Shadow answered. Soler chuckled a bit, and finished his apple. He turned to Starlight as she brushed out her mane.

"So, who are you gussying up for Starlight?" He joked.

"Not gussying up for anyone, just keeping my mane kept is all. Not every ponies' manes just keep their style." She responded. Soler nodded and threw away his apple. He went back to check on Wolf, who had finished his food and lapped up some water.

"You ready boy?" He asked. Wolf looked to him and nodded. "Alright then, let's get going."

"Where are you two off to?" Spike asked as he and Twilight finished cooking everyone's breakfast.

"Oh, we're just going out this morning for a run to the meadows. You guys enjoy your breakfast." He said and the two quickly left.

 _ **(P.O.V. none, Canterlot)**_

Luna yawned as she walked the halls of the castle to the throne room. When she walked in, she found her sister working on some documents, as per usual.

"Morning Tia." She said.

"Morning Luna, sleep well?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, very much so. I tried to peek into Soler's dreams, but I couldn't for some odd reason." She said.

"Oh, wanted to see if he was having any naughty dreams?" Celestia teased. Luna blushed madly.

"No, nothing like that. I've just noticed that it feels like something is wrong with him, but he won't tell me. I thought that maybe if I could see him in his dreams, he might want to tell me." She admitted. Celestia stopped her work and wrapped a wing around her sister and embraced her.

"Don't worry, Luna. I'm sure if there was something wrong with him, he'd tell you." She assured her, brightening Luna's mood a bit.

"Yeah, I think you're right, sister." Celestia nodded and went back to her work.

"And besides, what would he have to worry about? Ever since they defeated Neo, things have been peaceful." Luna smiled.

"You're right, Tia." A guard burst into the room, taking both Princesses by surprise.

"Princess, we have a major problem!" He said.

"What's happening? Is the city under attack?" Luna asked. The guard caught his breath before answering.

"I think so, ma'am. There's a giant metal machine up above the city, and it's just sitting there. You two should see this." He reported. The two Princesses quickly followed the guard outside, and were shocked by what they saw.

"Guard, send a message to Twilight, quickly! We're going to need Sonic and the others' help with this." Celestia said, and the guard swiftly went to fulfill his order. In the sky was a gigantic battleship, braced to attack. The side of it was adorned with the red insignia of a smiling man, with a moustache and glasses.

 _ **(P.O.V. Soler, Ponyville)**_

Having made it to the meadow, Soler played fetch with Wolf.

"Good boy, Wolf." He encouraged as Wolf brought back the stick to him. Soler was petting Wolf when his communicator went off. "What's up?"

"Soler, we got a major problem in Canterlot. We're all moving out, now." Sonic said in a rush.

"Woah, woah, Sonic, chill. What's going on in Canter… Lot-" Soler paused when he looked over in the direction of Canterlot, where the giant battleship hovered over the city.

"It's-"

"Yeah, I know. Eggman." Wolf began to growl in the direction of Canterlot. Soler looked to him. "Yeah, I know, boy. I hope you're ready for a fight."

 _That is the first chapter of the start of the next part of the trilogy, the Eggman Saga. Oh boy, things are about to get good again in the coming chapters. I hope you guys are as ready for it as I am. This has been Solerwolf, and it's good to be back!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Let's get started!_

 _ **First Battle with New Friends**_

 _ **(P.O.V. none, Canterlot)**_

Celestia and Luna watched the giant battleship looming over them, poised to strike. A guard came up to them.

"Ma'am, we have begun to get the citizens to safe havens in case of a battle. The progress is going smoothly." He reported.

"Thank you. Any word from Twilight and the others?"

"No ma'am, the message was sent, but no word back yet." Celestia didn't like that news, but remained composed.

"Okay. Go back to the civilian efforts and be ready for an attack." She ordered. He bowed and trotted off quickly. Luna had been staring at the ship in the sky and the logo on the side.

"Sister, I think that this-"

"Hello my soon-to-be new loyal subjects!"They heard from a voice from the flying ship. A small compartment opened up and out flew a man wearing a golden-buttoned red lab coat, black trousers, as well as glasses and a large mustache. He flew down near the two Princesses in a small spherical vehicle. He grin devilishly as he bowed before the two Princesses. "And hello Princesses. It's so good to finally make your acquaintances. I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, but many call me Eggman." The sisters stared at him coolly, their poker faces strong.

"Hello Eggman. I am Princesses Celestia, co-ruler of this land. And this is my sister Luna, but something tells me you already know that. So if you don't mind my bluntness, why are you here?" She asked him, oozing authority. Eggman chuckled.

"Right down to buisness, I like that. If you don't mind my bluntness, I've come to rule over this land and turn it into my new EggmanLand. And since I'm such a sensible man, I've come to get your peaceful surrender so I can begin my plans quickly." He said. Both sisters gawked at him, confused and shocked.

"Do you really think we will give up these lands so easily? You must be a fool for thinking so." Luna said. Eggman chuckled again.

"Oh no, I never thought you were going to give it up so easily, but I can at least say I tried to do things peacefully before I used force. Oh Metal!" He shouted. A small object shot out of the ship and quickly came over to its master's side. It was another bot, and looked nearly identical to Sonic, except for its eyes, snout, and stomach. Its red eyes gave Luna chills with memories of Neo.

"Now Princesses, this is Metal Sonic. I'm sure you remember my first creation, Neo? Yes, he was a failed attempt, and I'm more than grateful that you were able to get rid of him for me. It was a big help, to say the least. But anyway, Metal here is way more obedient than him, and will help give you some incentive to give up quietly. Metal, show them what happened to those who stand in my way."

At his master's command, Metal shot right towards the Princesses. Just before he could strike the shieldless Princesses, a hand caught him.

"Man, Metal. You really do need to learn some people skills." Soler remarked, delighting the princesses. "This is not how you treat ladies." Soler then kicked Metal, sending the bot into the air. Eggman gritted his teeth.

"Soler showed up. And if he's shown up, then that means that-"

"Eggman!" He turned around to see his long time enemy standing with his friends and ponies in the middle of the street. Sonic glared at him, and Eggman returned the favor.

"Sonic, you vile little rodent! You won't be getting in the way this time!" He shouted. Sonic only smirked.

"Don't you say that every time? And don't I beat you every time? What makes you think this time will be any different?" He boasted. Eggman only laughed.

"But this time, I've got some friends to help me." He then pushed a button on his vehicle, sending pods shot out of the ship and onto the ground. They opened up, and squads of bots came out, ready to attack.

"Guys, lets go!" Sonic shouted. They all entered combat with the bots. Soler and the Princesses watched as the battle scattered around the city. Soler looked up as Metal floated above.

"Don't think this dance is over, Metal." He declared. Mutely, the bot flew into the ongoing battle. Soler sighed and looked back at the Princesses. "I think that's my cue to go. Oh, but before I do." Soler whistled loudly. Then a howl could be heard in response. Down by the gates, a slight commotion could heard. It wasn't long before Wolf came bounding up the steps to them. The Princesses were surprised, not knowing that Soler had a wolf.

"How long have you had him?" Luna asked. Soler petted Wolf.

"About a month or so. Saved him from some Timberwolves and he's been with the team ever since. Now, may I please have your hoof?" Soler asked with a slight bow. Luna was confused by the request, but placed a hoof in his hand.

"Thanks you, milady. Now Wolf, remember her scent." Wolf walked up to the hoof and swiftly sniffed it. Luna restrained herself from giggling. As quickly as Wolf started, he finished, and gave happy bark. "Great work boy! Now Celestia?" Soler released Luna's hoof, and motioned for Celestia's. She nodded and placed her hoof in his hand. Wolf sniffed once more, barking upon completion.

"Great work, boy. Now, if I ever tell you to go protect, you run right back to these two. Got it? They might need your help." Wolf barked in agreement. "Great, now go!" Wolf bounded off back to the battle. Soler took another look over the battle.

"Welp, time to join the party. Don't worry, we'll kick his but right outta here." Soler said, giving them a thumbs up.

"Soler, wait." Luna said, stopping him. He looked back to be met with her lips on his as she kissed him briefly. "For luck." Soler smiled, nodded, then ran off to join the fight.

 _ ***With Shadow***_

Shadow and Twilight battled a group of bots in what seemed to be a good fight. Shadow threw a Spear into one, while Twilight blasted a few with a strong spell.

"These bots are very susceptible to magic." Twilight said as she blasted another group.

"Well that's good. These bots might not be the strongest, but their numbers can overwhelm us, so don't over do it." He said with a tad bit of concern.

"I got it, Shadow. No need to worry." The two stood back-to-back as a new group of bots showed up. With Twilight's magic, and Shadow's skill, they dispatched the bots with ease.

"Hmph, simply pathetic. I expected more from Eggman." Shadow said.

"I'm just glad we got through them. Now we can go help the others." Twilight responded. Before they could leave, another pod rocketed to the ground in front of them. Prepared for another fight, the two didn't see normal bots when it bursted open.

"Mecha Sonic." Shadow said, gritting his teeth. The bot stood tall over them; a bigger, taller, metallic version of Sonic. Twilight and Shadow stood in Mecha's sights.

"Shadow, this one feels different than the others." Twilight said. Before Shadow could reply, Mecha shot right at them and sent Shadow flying into a wall with a punch. Caught off-guard, Twilight managed to fly up before Mecha could slam his fist down on her, leaving cracks in the ground.

 _Woah, he's fast and strong. Well, as long as I have the air, I can keep an advantage until Shadow recovers._ She thought, readying an attack. But when she looked down, he was gone. The alicorn scanned the ground but couldn't see him. That's when she saw a shadow behind hers and looked back, shocked to see Mecha. He brutally kicked her back to the ground. Shadow caught her in time to keep her from being killed on impact.

"Thanks, but he can fly too?" She asked. Shadow nodded.

"Yeah, Mecha is strong, fast, and can fly. He can also pull off a powerful spin dash. I haven't fought him often, but when I did, it was always a tough fight. So this won't be easy." He answered. The two watched as Mecha slowly hovered back down to the ground, staring them down. The two got into battle stances and prepared for a long battle.

 _ ***With Soler***_

Soler ran into the battle and homed in on a few bots away as he looked for Metal. Instead of finding Metal, he found Rarity and Wolf fighting some bots together. Wolf protected her as she blasted away. Soler dashed into a bot before joining them.

"Glad to see you here. I could use help with these awful bots." She said.

"Don't worry. Now that I'm here, everything will be okay." He boasted lightly. The three got to work and took down bots left and right. Soler homed from bot to bot while Rarity blasted them down with ease. Soler noticed that he was working harder than normal in a fight with Eggman.

 _Man, not using my Chaos powers makes me have a whole new respect for Sonic._ He thought as he kicked away another bot. The three soon had the area cleared out.

"Man, that was a workout." Soler said, walking back to them.

"Really? I was quite at ease against those creations." She replied. Soler noticed that she had barely broken a sweat. Wolf happily barked as Soler petted his head.

"You did good too, boy, but this fight ain't over yet." He said. Metal Sonic flew down over to them and hovered. Soler smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "Glad to see you haven't forgotten about our little dance, Metal. I guess you know who the real priority is." Staring at him, Metal prepared aton attack.

 _Must be getting a message,_ Soler guessed as he watched Metal stop and put a hand to his ear. Metal put his hand down and blasted off, leaving Soler feeling defeated, and the others in confusion.

"Wait, if Metal isn't worried about me, then that means that… I'm not the main protagonist anymore." He muttered. A pod dropped down in front of them with a loud crash. Before any of them could react, it opened up and a silver hand grabbed the rim. A shiver went down Soler's spine. "Oh no, not him again. Why do I always get him?" Silver Sonic stepped out of the pod, resembling Sonic if he were a silver robot with red eyes. Soler looked at the bot, somewhat afraid.

"Soler? What's the problem with this one? He seems like he'll go down easy." Rarity said. Before he could respond, Silver curled up into a spinball and dashed at her with extreme speed. Soler had to tackle the startled unicorn, lest she she was struck down by Silver. "Thank you, darling. That would've been dreadful if he had hit me." Soler shook his head.

"No, you would've been dead if he hit you at that speed." He said, making her eyes widen. He pointed at where Silver did hit, and saw a stone pillar cut through as if it was paper. Silver Sonic rose and retargeted the three. Wolf growled at the bot, while Soler and Rarity stood back up as well.

"This might be a problem." She said, still shaken. Soler looked at his hand and tried to created a Spear, and hopelessly failed.

"Yeah, this is going to be a major problem." Soler said. Then Silver charged them again.

 _ ***With Sonic***_

"Man, these bots are cakewalk!" Rainbow shouted as she dove through a few bots before heading back to the skies. Meanwhile, Sonic dashed through bots, letting his speed do the work.

"Yeah, but don't let them overwhelm you. They might not be all that strong, but they do have numbers!" He shouted back before spin dashing through five more. He landed in a clearing and watched Rainbow take some of the ones in the air down with little trouble. Sonic watched and enjoyed seeing how she got into the fight. She went from bot to bot, letting nothing stand in her way as she went to work. Sonic stopped watching when he noticed that a new batch of bots had appeared around him. He smirked and shook his head.

"Got to give it to Eggman, he does know how to mass produce these walking trash cans. Ah well, might as well put them down like the rest." He said, and got ready to battle. Rainbow's scream shook him to his core, and he whirled to the sight of her falling towards the ground. He quickly ran and caught her before she hit ground.

"RD! You okay? What happened?" He asked. Before she could answer, Metal Sonic flew down to the ground, staring them down. Sonic glared right at him.

"He's what happened." She said as she got herself back onto her hooves, "He clipped my wing by surprise. That's what sent me to the ground."

"Is your wing alright? Can you still fly?" Sonic asked. She fluttered her wing a bit, and despite a slight sting, she could handle it.

"Yeah, I can still fly. But I don't think it'd be smart to try and fight in the sky while worrying about him and these bots." She said. That's when Sonic noticed that more bots had come to their area and were starting to surround them. He looked back to Metal, who held his cold stare at his eternal rival.

"Welp. For once, I think we might need some backup." Sonic said as the two prepared to fight.

 _ ***With Knuckles***_

Knuckles and Applejack were helping in the relief efforts, and kept the bots away from the civilians while the others got them to safety. Knuckles had beaten another bot down while Applejack bucked one square in the chest, leaving a hole as it fell over.

"Man, they just keep coming. Tails, how is the evacuation coming along?" Knuckles shouted. Tails was in the sky, looking around for leftover civilians.

"I don't see anymore from here. Fluttershy and Pinkie should've gotten the civilians down into the bunker already, so I think were good." He said back.

"Well that's great news, partner. How's the fightin' looking from up there?" AJ asked. Tails scanned the area again.

"It seems like the guards have entered combat with Eggman's robots too, but they seem to be holding their own pretty well." He replied. Knuckles bashed the head of another bot and threw its body at a few incoming bots.

"Good. What about Sonic and the others?" He asked.

"I can't see them, which worries me. These bots aren't too difficult, so they should've been done and back with us by now." Tails commented. Knuckles agreed.

 _The bots aren't too tough. If Eggman really wanted to seize the place, he would've sent his most elite bots to attack. So that means he has some other reason for attacking like this._ Knuckles thought. Tails flew back down as they finished clearing out the closest bots, giving them a breather.

"So Tails, you thinking what I'm thinking, right?" Knuckles asked. Tails nodded.

"Yeah, I think he has some sort of plan for this attack, especially since it's Eggman. He always has three steps planned ahead, so this attack might not be his main concern or something. It's very troubling." Tails said. AJ's blank expression told of her cluelessness about the situation. Knuckles noticed and chuckled,

"Sorry AJ. What we're talking about is-" Knuckles' sentence ended when new bots landed around them, appearing more serious than the last. "Looks like we got more trash to take out." Knuckles cracked his knuckles as the three got into battle stances.

"Yeah, but these look a lot more stronger than the ones before, so be careful." Tails told them. They nodded and got ready to charge in.

Eggman watched the battle going on with a devilish grin, knowing his forces were being taken down.

 _Everything is going according to plan._ He watched as data poured into him on the abilities of the ponies and their effects on his machines. He smiled as he saw all the new information coming in, loving every minute of it. A sensor went off, and he pushed a button on his pad.

"Report." He commanded.

" _Sir, a few pods have launched not commanded by you."_ A metallic voice replied. Eggman raised an eyebrow and watched as the new pods dropped into the battle below. He thought on it, but pushed it aside. He used his weaker bots to drain some energy from the heroes and sent in the Metal Sonic units to try and finish them off. Plus, he sent some elite units to deal with the ones protecting the civilians.

 _Even if I don't take the city, it'll be a decent blow to them. A wound for a later battle!_ Eggman thought proudly.

"Hmm, forget about those pods and focus on collecting as much data as possible." He responded.

" _Yes sir."_ The bot signed off, leaving Eggman to enjoy the battle.

 _ ***Shadow's Battle***_

Shadow and Twilight took heavy breaths as they backed off from another attack on Mecha. Mecha stood there, hardly damaged at all.

"We're barely making any leeway on him." Twilight said, "My magic isn't really affecting it. Plus, his speed and strength is a problem for both of us."

"Yeah I know. I'm trying to think of a strategy, but nothing is working on him. We need more firepower." He said. Mecha charged at them once more. Shadow was quick and made a Spear to defend with, but Mecha knocked him out the way and went after Twilight. She braced herself for the attack when a barrage of missiles struck Mecha and sent him flying. Then a barrage of bombs dropped on Mecha, stunning him temporarily.

 _What did that?_ Twilight wondering and she watched what everything transpire.

"Target confirmed. Missile barrage effective." A mechanical voice said. Twilight looked behind her at a big robot with black and red armor walking up to her. Its hands smoked from releasing the missiles before they turned back into metal claw-like hands. "Lifeform protected. Shadow not in vicinity." It stared down at Twilight and turned its hand into a gun again, pointing it at her.

"Lifeform must tell me where Shadow is, or risk elimination." Twilight didn't even know what to say as his guns started charging, her eyes wide open with shock.

"Relax big guy, I got handsome right here." A female voice soothed. Both Twilight and the robot looked over at a bat holding up Shadow, who was quickly recovering from the attack. The bat wore thigh-high white boots with pink hearts at the toes, as well as black tights and another big pink heart that covered her chest. She also had on white gloves to match her boots. She let Shadow stand and brush himself off. At the sight of Shadow, the robot put his guns away and offered Twilight a hand.

"Shadow confirmed. Little lifeform safe. Proceeding to help." It said. Twilight hesitantly looked at him, unsure of what it was going to do.

"Don't worry, you can trust him." Shadow said, "These two are allies."

"Aww. You sure we're only allies, big boy? I always thought we were a little more." The bat said, causing Shadow to roll his eyes. Twilight didn't like, and shot up quickly.

"Hey!" She shouted. The bat glanced at her.

"Hey, easy there. I'm only teasing here. I know mister brute here couldn't take me seriously, even if I begged. Which no lady would do. So who is the horse, Shadow?" She asked.

"I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, and who are you?" Twilight asked before Shadow could speak.

"Rouge the Bat. And the robot is Omega. What are you two doing here?" Shadow demanded. Then, Mecha stood back up.

"We'll explain later. Right now, we've got a bot to take down," She said. Shadow stopped Twilight from coming forward.

"You rest. We got this." Shadow said as he, Rouge, and Omega stepped up. "Team Dark, let's go! Alpha formation!" Rouge and Omega nodded. Then, the three took positions for battle.

 _ ***Soler's Battle***_

Soler tackled Rarity to the ground as Silver did another sweep attack, barely missing her.

"Thank you Soler. That Silver is a monster. How did you ever manage to stop it?" She asked as Soler helped her up. Wolf came bounding up to them, also somewhat exhausted from the fight.

"Well, to be very honest with you, I've never fully destroyed him." Rarity's eyes widened in shock.

"What?"

"Yeah, I know. See, the reason it's silver and bulky is because its armor is thick and tough. Every time we fought, which is more times than I'd like to admit, I've only been able to damage him enough to force him to retreat." Soler explained, failing to raise Rarity's spirits. Silver Sonic stood up and looked back at the three with something of a fire in its cold eyes. Soler gritted his teeth.

 _Rarity's magic isn't as strong as Twilight's magic. But still, I don't even think Twi or Luna's magic could stop Silver. Its armor is too tough and those spines can cut through anything. I can't use my Chaos powers, and Wolf isn't standing too much of a chance against him either, even with the magic Twi put on him to harden his teeth. He can't chomp through Silver's armor._ As he thought, he slowly realized the dread upon them.

"Wolf. Go protect." Soler said. Wolf looked at him, confused, and whined weakly. Soler just smiled and petted his head. "Don't worry boy, we'll be alright. Now go protect Luna and Celestia, alright?" Wolf felt that something was off, but barked and ran off to the castle anyhow.

"Why did you send Wolf off?" Rarity asked.

"To be honest, I don't want him to be around if I don't make it in this fight. And so Luna will have something to remember me by." He admitted. Rarity looked at him blankly.

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" She remarked.

"What? I'm just being realistic here. This fight isn't look too good." He said. Silver charged, and Soler immediately charged right back at him. When he threw a punch, Silver caught him midair. "Oh no." Silver slammed him into the ground, and tossed him past Rarity into the side of a building, leaving a body-sized crack in the wall. Rarity was stunned to see him get flung like that. She prepared for Silver to go into a spin ball and charged right at her. Soler saw it, but was powerless to stop it.

"Rarity, no!" Closing her eyes, she turned and braced herself to meet her doom. After a few seconds, Rarity opened her eyes to see Silver hovering right in front of her, still in a spin ball. Surrounded by a strange aura, the robot was thrown into the ground away from her. Silver quickly stood back up, only to be pelted with two massive fireballs that blew up on contact. He was left in a blaze of fire.

"Who did that?" She asked aloud.

"That would be me." A voice said. She looked up and saw a silver hedgehog floating down from the sky towards her. He landed softly in front of her and offered a hand. "Need some help?" His yellow eyes were directly on her. For the first time, Rarity was speechless. She just nodded and placed her hoof in his hand.

"Good. Hate to see a lady on the ground. Hey Blaze, how's Soler?" He shouted behind himself. Rarity turned to a purple cat helping Soler up. She wore a purple jacket that had white fur around the end of the sleeves, as well as white pants with the same white fur at the ends. She also had on gloves and heels resembling Sonic's shoes without buckles. Some of her hair was in a ponytail on the top of her head.

"He should be fine, Silver. How's the unicorn?"

"She's fine. I stopped Silver just in time. And good work with the flames as back up."

"Well someone had to get him down." She retorted. Soler recovered and brushed himself off.

"Silver, Blaze, am I ever so glad to see you two. Just a quick question, what brings a time traveler and a princess from a different dimension to the world of Equestria?" He asked. Silver was about to answer when they all looked over as Silver Sonic stepped out of the fire, hardly damaged at all. In fact, he appeared more upset than anything else.

"We'll explain later. I think we should handle him first." Silver said. Soler and Blaze nodded, and joined his side. Silver looked back at Rarity.

"Don't worry, we'll handle this. You rest up." He said. She simply nodded and stood back. Soler smirk as he took lead. "Alright, let's do this! Team Soler is reunited!" Silver and Blaze looked at him, bemused.

"First, since when have we are been a legit team? I mean, we've worked well together in the past, but that's been only maybe a handful of times. And second, Team Soler, really?" Blaze asked. Soler looked back at them.

"Come on, guys. We're straight up a Sonic Heroes team here. Silver is the flight, Blaze is the power, and I'm the speed. We're a perfect setup. Come on, nothing?" They stared at him blankly. He sighed and shook his head. "Nevermind, let's just do this." The three readied themselves for the fight ahead.

 _ ***Sonic's Battle***_

Sonic and Metal clashed again and broke apart. Sonic tried to recover but then another bot came and took a swipe at him, causing him to have to dodge it. When he did, Metal took the chance to spin dash into him, sending him back.

At the same time, Metal was quick enough to battle Rainbow in the air while she fought off robots. When she took down one, Metal attacked her, forcing her to dodge. This left her open for a blast from one of the other bots, which pained her already injured wing. She had just taken down three flying bots when Metal took her by surprise and gutted her, knocking all of the wind out of her. He then flung her down to the ground. Sonic stood and helped her up, both of them looking around at all of the bots surrounding them. Metal hovered before them, watching them. Sonic looked to RD, neither of them in the best shape.

 _Man, we could use some backup right now._ He thought. Metal's engines revved up. He rushed at them, but when he was upon them, a giant hammer smacked him in head and sent him into a nearby wall. Sonic and RD stared at what had just transpired. Sonic smirked, knowing the hammer, and who threw it. Bots were being sent flying by something on its way towards them, with strength and speed, down to the last bot. Rainbow expected to see a muscular beast or creature, but instead saw a pink hedgehog in a red dress and boots. She held a giant hammer that looked exactly like the one that sent Metal flying. The pink hedgehog brushed off her dress, and her eyes instantly lit up when she saw Sonic.

"Oh! I knew my darling Sonic would be here!" She said before hugged him. Rainbow was dumbfounded.

"Darling Sonic? Hey! He's my-" Sonic cut her off with a motion. He broke the hug with the hedgehog and she stood there, smiling at him.

"Amy, you don't know how glad I am to see you. But how did you get here?" He asked. Amy giggled.

"Oh Sonic, don't you know that when you're in love with someone, no matter how far away they are, you can always find them again." She said. Sonic could see that Rainbow was ready to burst, but he silently motioned that he would explain later.

"Hehe, listen Amy, we're gonna have to talk later. But first, think you're up to help me smash some bots?" He said, grinning. Amy lifted her hammer and beamed.

"Do you even have to ask?" She retorted. Rainbow stood, attempting to help, but Sonic stopped her.

"Don't worry, we got this RD." The two hedgehogs stepped up to the horde of bots before them, their confidence high. "Amy, up for a little Sonic spinball?" He curled into a ball and started revving up. Amy gripped her hammer tightly.

"Oh you know it!" She said, striking Sonic into the fight.

 _ ***Knuckles Battles***_

AJ skidded across the ground in pain as one of the elite bots approached her. She tried to stand, but was too hurt to. The bot was about to strike, but stopped when a different bot slammed into it.

"AJ, you okay?" Knuckles asked as he ran over to her. He helped her shakily stand to her hooves.

"I ain't gonna lie sugarcube, I ain't holding up so well against these ones. They're tougher than the Neo clones." She admitted. Though they were pretty tough, Knuckles knew that he could hold his own against Eggman's bots after fighting them for so long. However, Applejack's never fought him before. Tails was helping him fight this time, holding his own like the red echidna. He looked to Applejack.

 _Hate seeing her like this_ , Knuckles thought when he saw how beaten up she was. _Tails won't be able to keep up at this pace. We need to get them out of the fighting, but then I'd be fighting solo._ _Damn, what do we do?_ Then Pinkie Pie came out of the shelter.

"Tails, we have everyone safe and secure. Fluttershy is helping the wounded." She shouted. She saw AJ, and her eyes widened. "Applejack!" She ran over to her and Knuckles.

"I'll be alright, sugarcube." She said, wincing in pain.

"AJ, I'm pulling you out of the fight. You're too hurt, Pinkie, help her into the shelter while I have Tails pull back too." Knuckles ordered. Pinkie nodded and supported Applejack the best she could.

"Knuckles, no. Those bots are too tough for you to fight on your own." She said. He saw the number of bots coming in as Tails fell back to them.

"Knuckles, these guys are really tough to fight. We might need some backup." Tails said. Knuckles placed a glove on his shoulder, causing Tails to look at him.

"Tails, fall back inside with the girls. I'll hold them off until Sonic and the others can come help. Now you help Pinkie with AJ." He said, stepping in front of them. Tails nodded and helped carry Applejack. They quickly got AJ inside and laid her with the others. Fluttershy looked at her, shocked by her condition, and ran over to tend to her. Once they saw she was secure, Tails and Pinkie relaxed.

"I'll tell Knuckles she's safe." Pinkie said, dashing off. When Pinkie made it back outside, she was shocked to see that Knuckles was really holding off over a dozen bots on his own. He smashed one bot's head in, grabbed it and threw it into a few more. Then, he ripped a limb off another and used it as a bat and start smashing as many as he could before the limb broke.

 _Impressive_ , she thought, though one of the bots occasionally got in a hit on him. _But he's not gonna be able to take much more._ She was so busy thinking, she didn't notice that one of the bots slipped away from the others and was about to attack her. In the moment of the attack, she noticed it and screamed, causing Knuckles to whip towards her, only to be confused. Pinkie had her eyes closed, waiting for the pain, but instead felt like someone was holding her. She opened her eyes, and was floating midair.

"Sorry to pick you up all of a sudden. But you were in danger, so I acted." A voice said. It was a purple lizard with a yellow horn and weird gauntlet holding her. His yellow eyes studied the area around them efficiently. Knuckles saw him and instantly smiled.

"Espio, am I glad to see you here." He said. Espio noticed him and smirked.

"Good to see you too, Knuckles."

"Um, excuse me, mister lizard." He looked down to Pinkie, who had a slight blush on her face. "But, uh, think you could put me down?" Espio nodded and placed her carefully on the ground. Then the same bot that was after Pinkie lunged quickly, and then a kunai in its head shut it down.

 _What happened?_ Pinkie wondered before noticing that Espio had his hand out, signaling that he had thrown it.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I'm a chameleon, not just a lizard. And I think you need to get inside to where it's safe." He advised. Pinkie simply nodded and quickly went back inside, but not before looking back to see Knuckles and Espio standing together, ready to fight.

 _That's it for this one, and with it, the new characters have been introduced. Will they have a big role on the coming of days? Who knows? Heck, I don't even know, and I'm the author. Tune in next time on ATA: The Eggman Saga, to find out! This is Solerwolf… Out!_

 _P.S. I know the chapter stopped kinda abruptly, but it was way longer than I intended it to be. And I needed to find some sort of stopping point. So, uh, sorry._


	3. Chapter 3

_Something about friendship and power...Yeah!_

 _ **First Battle with New Friends Pt 2**_

 _ **(P.O.V. none, Canterlot)**_

Eggman watched in disdain as the stowaways aided Sonic. He didn't even detect that they had gotten onboard. Because of his blunder, now Sonic is gaining the upperhand again. He looked at the data, and saw that he had more than enough already.

 _Further fighting would be pointless_. He pushed a button.

"All units, fall back to the ship. We're leaving." He ordered, before returning to the ship.

 _ ***With Soler***_

Soler charged at Silver Sonic, who returned the favor. Soler smirked.

"Silver!" He jumped at the last moment, and a few fallen bots were thrown right at Silver, knocking it into a column. It recovered and targeted the floating hedgehog who stared at him. It charged at Silver, only for two massive fireballs to smash right into its face, knocking it off course once again. Silver Sonic recovered again, and glared at Blaze. She stood tall, her hands ablaze.

"I don't think we're doing much damage to it." She noted. Soler and Silver had it surrounded. Rarity was amazed by the trio's teamwork, fighting together as if they were on the same key. Silver Sonic's damage had become visible, but it still stood strong and ready to fight.

"Well, it wouldn't be an issue if it went down with a little coordination." Soler said.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Silver asked. Soler merely grinned.

"We turn up the heat! Silver, Blaze, flame twister!" He shouted, before homing right into the bot, who blocked it easily. The other two immediately got into positions. Soler ran around Silver Sonic, keeping it preoccupied. Silver took a few more futile swips before Soler jumped on its head and kicked off of it, distancing himself. Silver glared at the smirking hedgehog. "Now!"

A giant ball of fire struck Silver Sonic and engulfed it in flames. Before the robot could move, Soler quickly circled it, funnelling the fire. Silver then used his powers to keep the fire twisting around it while Blaze kept pouring in fire. Rarity gazed as she felt some of the heat from the flame twister in all its might. Silver Sonic struggled to escape, reaching out its hands only to be instantly engulfed by the twister. The three maintained their attack until Soler started to struggle with the heat.

"Okay, grand finale!" He announced. Soler broke away from the twister and jumped off a building, going high into the air. Silver saw him and put a protective force around him while keeping the tornado in place. Once Soler was high enough, he curled into a ball and began revving up. As soon as he stopped gaining height, gravity took him, and he free fell down towards Silver Sonic. Silver saw the rapidly falling hedgehog and knew what was coming next.

"Excuse me miss?" He said to Rarity, who snapped out of her amazement.

"Yes?"

"It's about to get really hot in a second, so it would be wise to put up some sort of barrier around yourself." He told her. Rarity understood what he meant when she saw Soler bolting down the tornado and put up a shield. Soler cut through the tornado at blinding speed, tearing the tornado apart when he made contact with Silver Sonic. Silver, Blaze, and Rarity watched the spectacle in awe. Soler popped out and away from the robot with a triumphant look. They all smiled, thinking they had finally put it down. Those smiles quickly faded when they heard the machine start to move again. Its red eyes glowed as it stepped out of the smoke and rubble. Soler jumped further away from the robot, seeing that minimal had been done to it.

"Well, he wouldn't be Silver Sonic if it went down from that." Soler said.

"If an attack such as that didn't put it down, then what do we do?" Rarity worriedly asked. Before any of them could reply, it charged right at Soler who closed his eyes and braced for the impact. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes and saw Silver Sonic stopped in its tracks.

"Thanks Silver." Soler said, sighing.

"Uh, that isn't me." He said. They looked at Silver Sonic, who appeared to be receiving new information. He then turned and flew away from the group, retreating back to the carrier ship. They watched in relief and disbelief as the robot went away.

"It seems that we were granted a victory today by luck." Blaze said in slight annoyance.

"Well I'm just glad time was on our side. That Silver seems to only get stronger each time we face him." Silver said.

"You say it like you two always fight him. And to bring back the earlier question, what are you two doing here?" Soler asked.

"And like we said earlier, we'll explain later. We should make sure the others are alright first, right?" Silver responded.

"I think they'll be fine. We didn't come alone Silver, remember?But I do think we should try and see if there are any more civilians that need our help." Blaze suggested.

"Well I don't think we'll have to worry about that. My friends already went off to get all the civilians to safety before the fighting broke out." Rarity said. The whole while, Soler remained quiet.

 _Where is Wolf?_ He wondered. Then his eyes widened as he remembered that he sent him to Luna.

"We're going to the Princesses, now!" He said frantically, taking them by surprise.

"Okay, but why so frantic?" Silver asked.

"Because I sent Wolf to them, and Luna might think something happened to me! I gotta go show my babe I'm alright! I hate to make her worry." He responded as frantically as before. Silver and Blaze grew confused.

"Babe?" They asked in unison.

"I'll explain later." He said in a mocking tone before dashing off to the castle. They sighed and the three followed suit.

 _ ***With Shadow***_

Shadow threw a spear at Mecha, diverting its attention away from the flurry of missiles that struck its side. Though Mecha showed the damage from Omega's missiles, the robot wouldn't give up. Mecha charged at Shadow and caught him in a vice grip, forcing the black hedgehog to struggle in trying to escape. He was close to being popped when Rouge drill-kicked Mecha's hand, releasing Shadow. She caught him and flew him back over to Omega and Twilight as he recovered.

"Thanks for that." He said. Twilight came over to him and looked over him with concern.

"You okay?" She asked.

"I'll be fine. Right now, we need to take Mecha down." Shadow said. They watched as the robot stood ready to attack.

"Well, I'm all open for suggestions." Rouge commented.

"I suggest more firepower is needed. Proceeding to unleash all firearms on target. Estimated area of destruction, two miles. Advise clearing area." Omega said. Twilight's eyes widened.

"No, Omega. No need to do that. We'll think of something else." Shadow commanded. Omega understood, but some part of him was saddened that he didn't get to destroy stuff. "Well that's one plan. Any other ideas?" Shadow was unable to form any plans that would keep Mecha down. Mecha readied itself for another attack.

"Get ready." Shadow ordered. Mecha was about to charge them, but stopped suddenly, then turned and flew back towards the ship. Taken by surprise, they watched it leave. Perplexion and relief went through their veins.

"Glad that's over." Rouge said.

"Target escaped. Wanted to put more shots into it." Omega commented, slightly sad.

"I'm sure you'll get another chance later, big guy." Shadow said. He turned to Twilight, concerned. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. Thank you." She replied. Rouge smiled slyly at the two.

"Is this really the Shadow I know? Caring deeply for someone else? It just doesn't feel real." Rouge teased.

"Subject is Shadow. Bioscans show positive DNA match." Omega confirmed. Rogue just patted the bot.

"Yeah. I know it's really him, Omega. I'm just teasing him."

"W-Well, teasing aside, we should probably get going to the Princesses and see if they're alright. And maybe meet back up with the others." Twilight suggested. Rouge's eyes lit up.

"Royalty!" She exclaimed.

"Rouge." Shadow said. She sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, Shadow, hands to myself." She whimpered, making Twilight wonder what they were on about.

"Umm, okay. Let's get going." She said. The small group dashed off to the Princess's castle to meet back up with their friends.

 _ ***With Sonic***_

Sonic and Amy fought off the bots and Metal Sonic while in sync with each other. Rainbow watched the two communicate without even speaking, so coordinated they danced on the battlefield. She was amazed, yet jealous that she and Sonic didn't battle that well together. All of Amy's hammer swings were purposed, and never interrupted Sonic's flow, and even helped him at times. They cleared out the robots with ease, like they had countless times before. Sonic landed away from Amy, having just destroyed another set of bots. He looked up and saw that there were still a few bots in the sky.

"Hey Amy! Time to go sky high!" He shouted, before running right at her. She prepared herself. Sonic jumped and landed on her hammer, which she then swung, skyrocketing him into the air. He homed in on the few midair bots as he climbed up. Once Sonic was high enough, he stopped and began to freefall right towards Amy again. He curled up in a ball and let gravity take him. Amy was busy with some bots as he fell right towards her, and Rainbow grew concerned that she didn't see him pick up momentum. Before the blue pegasus could shout when Sonic was a few feet from her, Amy instinctively swung her hammer into him as if she were playing baseball. He was shot right into Metal Sonic, who went flying back into a wall again. Sonic popped out of the ball and landed back by Amy. "Nice work." The two fist bumped.

"Naturally." She responded. Metal recovered and glared at the two hedgehogs. The two only smirked confidently at him.

"Uh, Metal, don't know if you can count, but you're the last one left. guy." Sonic said. Metal took a look around, and realized he was the last one standing.

"I think this is the part where you give up." Amy declared. Metal glared at the two as he readied his next attack, prompting the two hedgehogs to do so as well. When it seemed like the two forces were going to clash again, Metal stiffened and put a hand to his ear. He placed his hand back down and floated into the air, looking at Sonic.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Till next time." Sonic retorted. Metal flew back to the ship. With the battle over, they all exhaled relievedly, and Sonic and Amy began to stretch. "Man, we haven't fought together in a long time Ams. It felt good, ya know." Amy giggled at his praise.

"Yeah, we haven't fought that well together in a long time. Not going to lie, you did seem a bit beaten to me." She commented.

"Well I might've been a little out of practice, but you made up for it pretty easily." He said. Amy just smiled and locked her arm around his.

"Well I'm always ready to back up my darling Sonic." She said. Sonic only smiled, then he heard a groan and remembered Rainbow. He turned to the injured pegasus and quickly ran over to her, followed by Amy. Both hedgehogs looking over her with concern.

"Rainbow, you alright? How bad is it?" Sonic asked. Rainbow tried to move her wing, but winced when she couldn't.

"I think I got a downed wing and maybe a few bruises. But I should be okay." She replied.

"Oh I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner. I could've helped more and maybe have kept you from getting so hurt." Amy said with concern. Sonic gently lifted Rainbow without touching her wing.

"Don't stress it Amy. Right now, we should get her back to the others and make for the Princesses. I'm sure they could wrap her up." He said. Amy nodded, then the trio headed off for the others.

 _ ***With Knuckles***_

Knuckles and Espio took down the the elite bots with ease. Knuckles smashed one bot's head in and and throw it at another few. One of the bots tried to surprise him, but Espio threw a kunai at it. The two had fought side-by-side long enough to know how to fight in tandem with each other. Espio was faster than the robots, so he was able to swiftly maneuver around them and disable them with quick and precise strikes. Most of the bots had gone down, but another small group seemed to come out of nowhere. Espio saw them prepare to ambush an unsuspecting echidna.

"Knuckles, duck!" He shouted. Knuckles ducked without question as a massive shuriken flew past him and sliced through all the robots in one swift motion. Knuckles looked over the sight of the downed bots upon rising.

"Thanks for that."

"Anytime. Plus, I think those were the last of the robots." Espio added. Only piles of parts laid around them.

"Yeah, I think that's it." Knuckles responded, pointing at the bots returning to the ship.

"Guess Eggman is pulling out now." Espio commented. Knuckles just nodded. He then looked back to the shelter, left relatively undamaged. The doors opened, and out came the civilians, Pinkie, Tails, and Fluttershy. Knuckles smiled when he saw a bandaged up AJ back on her feet. He ran over to her.

"Glad to see you back on your feet, AJ." He said. She smiled.

"Yeah, same here, but I don't think I'll be bucking any apples anytime soon." She noted. He chuckled.

"I can handle it." He said while stroking her cheek. Espio saw this grinned.

"Um, excuse me?" He turned to a Pinkie right beside him, "I, uh, never got to say thank you, for saving me earlier." He smiled and nodded.

"It was my pleasure… Miss?"

"Oh, I'm Pinkie Pie, but everyone just calls me Pinkie." She responded.

"Pinkie Pie, huh? Well it was my pleasure to save you, Pinkie. I'm Espio." He held out his hand to her. She smiled and shook it with her hoof. Everyone seemed to rejoice since the attack was over.

"Knuckles!" Everyone looked to see Sonic carrying a downed Rainbow followed by a pink hedgehog. He quickly made his way to them. "Yo, Rainbow needs some help. Said her wing's messed up." He gently let Rainbow down, who shakily stood up.

"I told you I'll be fine." She said before wincing in pain, Sonic caught her. Fluttershy ran up to them and looked over Rainbow. She touched her wing and RD instantly winced in pain at the slight touch.

"Yes, her wing is definitely in bad shape. Sonic, bring her over here and I can try to patch her up." She said. Sonic nodded and guided Rainbow over to where Fluttershy could patch her up.

"Well at least we got her over here quickly. I hate to see others in pain." Amy said. That's when Knuckles and the others went back to her.

"So you're here too, Amy? I only thought Espio would be the only one. By the way, how did you two get here?" Knuckles asked. Espio and Amy shared a quick glance.

"Well, we would explain, but-"

"I think it'd be best if everyone was together first, so we don't have to re-explain." Amy said, finishing Espio's sentence. They just looked at them blankly.

"Well I guess that's okay." Tails said. "Besides, I think it might be a bit before Rainbow is up to move again. And the fighting is over, so we can wait." Amy smiled.

"Thanks, Tails. I knew you'd be reasonable, unlike a certain echidna." Amy replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh nothing. Just that I can always rely on Tails, is all." Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Oh really? So what about those times I backed you up in a fight cause you couldn't handle all the enemies, huh?"

"Oh please, we all know that I was the one backing you up because you charged into a fight headstrong."

"She is right about that, Knux. You do tend to run headfirst into fights." Espio added. Most of the small group laughed at Knuckles' fuming. Tails was busy looking around at the scraps of robots, his mind racing.

* * *

Luna and Celestia, joined by Wolf, watched as the fighting ceased, and the remaining forces retreated to the sky ship. Luna didn't like seeing Wolf running back to them without Soler behind him. It made her worry, but she couldn't show it in face of this enemy.

"It seems Sonic and the others were able to push back Eggman." Celestia said. Luna nodded.

"Yes, they did. But there is quite a bit of damage to the city. I hope that they were able to get the civilians to safety." Luna added.

"I'm sure they did. But what worries me is that the ship is still lingering in the sky." They looked at it still sitting there, a threat. Then the speakers on the ship blared to life.

"I'm sorry Princesses, but it seems you'll have to give up this land to me at a later date. The disturbance of that rodent and his friends have set me back, so I shall be making my leave." Eggman's voice called. The engines of the ship roared to life as the ship flew just above the clouds. It then flew far into the distance, slowly becoming a spec in the sky. The sisters shared a collective sigh of relief, and Wolf happily barked. They heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Much to Luna's delight, it was Soler, followed by Rarity and two new beings. Soler reached them first and instantly wrapped Luna in a hug, picked her up, and slightly spun her around. He kissed her passionately.

"Oh Luna, I'm so so sorry to make you worry. I know that sending Wolf must've made you think the worst. At the time, I thought the worst, but I shouldn't have made you worry." He cried. Luna smiled and slightly blushed at his affection.

"Well I'm glad to see that you're okay, but do you think this is is the best time for this?" She questioned. Soler wondered what she meant, only to realize that the others were staring at the two. He put two and two together and smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, you're right." He gently put her down and the Princess regained her composure.

"Yes, I'm glad to see you all are fine. And I see we have new visitors." She said. Silver and Blaze were befuddled by the sight of the two alicorns, and from Soler sweeping up one of them. Soler chuckled at his friends. He walked over and placed an arm around each of them.

"Celestia, Luna, this is Silver the Hedgehog, and Blaze the Cat, a couple of friends from back home. Silver, Blaze, meet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the rulers of this land. They're both alicorns, the proper word for the pegacorn you're thinking of." He said, snapping them out of it.

"How did you know?"

"Believe me, I thought the same thing when I first met them. But alicorn seems to roll off the tongue a lot better." The Princesses walked up to them and bowed to them, which Silver and Blaze returned.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Silver and Blaze. Thank you for protecting our people and land." Celestia said. They could feel the authoritative yet elegant power in her voice, which only seemed to command respect.

"We were happy to help stop Eggman and protect the innocent." Blaze responded.

"Yeah, Eggman needs to be stopped. So anytime Sonic and his friends need help, we're always there to help." Silver added.

"Well you three did a marvelous job at it!" Rarity swooned. "You were in sync the whole fight, and it all looked so marvelous." Silver scratched the back of his head.

"Well thanks, Miss. Never been complimented on my fighting before." He said.

"Yes, thank you for the praise, Miss." Blaze added.

"Oh please. No need to be so formal, my name is Rarity, dearies." Soler watched the little exchanged, before being tackled and barraged with wet licks by Wolf.

"Okay, okay. It's good to see you too, boy." He said between licks. Wolf got off of him and wagged his tail, looking at his master. Soler smiled and scratched his ears. "See? I told ya I'd catch up, didn't I?" As the group enjoyed their victory, they heard the sound of more footsteps, even mechanical ones. They looked on as Shadow and Twilight were followed in by what appeared to be a robot and a bat. Soler grimaced slightly at the site of the bat.

"Oh great, Rouge is here too." He said. Rouge was awed by the castle, until she heard her name and saw Soler looking at her. A devilish smirk adorned her face.

"Oh Soler, miss me already, big boy?" She teased. Soler stood and walked in front of her.

"You won't get me this time, bat woman. I assure you that." He said. Rouge gave a false look of inquiry.

"Hmm? What do you mean by that?"

"Oh you know what I mean. You won't get me flustered this time around. I've grown since the last time we met, so your flirting and teasing won't work on me this time." He remarked confidently. She smirked at the challenge.

"Aww, but I remember when we first met. You were so innocent, it was adorable. But it seems that you have grown into quite the handsome hedgehog. Well, I'm sure you probably have a trail of broken hearts of all those beauties you've denied."

"Ha! As if. No broken hearts under my belt. Not my style." He countered.

"Oh, so then you wouldn't mind if I became your first then?" She asked, getting closer to him. Soler knew this trick and held his confident grin.

"Not gonna work this time. I already have a girl this time around, so you're S.O.L." He responded. Rouge smirked, knowing she had him with this. She got even closer.

"Oh really? Then that's fine with me, but I guess I should change my question." She brought her lips close to his ear so only he could hear. "Think you got room to add a third in?" She stepped down as he didn't have a response this time, trying to figure out what she meant. It then dawned on him what she meant, and his face went a bright red.

"Darn you, bat woman!" He shouted. He stomped away, leaving a laughing Rouge. "You won this time. But next time, I won't lose." His face was still the shade of a tomato.

"Okay hun, be sure to give me your answer the next time, kay?" She responded. His face reddened even more as he shouted in defeat.

"Okay. Now that we got that over with, mind if we get down to business?" Shadow asked her. Rouge pouted at his seriousness.

"You're no fun, Shadow."

"Well one of us has to keep the team on track." He retorted. She rolled her eyes.

"That's normally my job, mister headstrong, but okay." Twilight walked up this time.

"Princesses, Eggman was pushed back, but he did a number on Canterlot. I'm sorry." She said with a bow. Smiling sweetly, Celestia walked up to her and raised her head with her hoof.

"Twilight, you and your friends did a great job in protecting the city. Any damage done can be repaired, so don't fret on it. But it seems we have even more new arrivals."

"Yes, these are Rouge and Omega. I know Omega is a robot, but he's trustworthy." Shadow assured them.

"We trust your judgement, Shadow. But where are the others?" Luna asked.

"That I don't know. We all separated at the beginning of the fight, but they should've been here by now." Shadow added.

"We had some injuries to patch up first." They all turned as Sonic and the rest of the gang, plus two more guests walking up to them. Applejack and Rainbow were bandaged up, but were walking just fine.

"Glad to see you finally made it to the party, slowpoke." Soler said.

"Yeah well, you know how us heroes have to make a grand entrance." Sonic replied. The two fist-bumped.

"Glad to see you made it back blue."

"Yeah, same here. So I see that Amy and Espio aren't the only ones who made it here too, huh?" He asked, glancing at the others.

"Good to see you too, big blue." Rouge said.

"Yeah, it's been awhile, Sonic." Silver added.

"Yes, it is good to see you again." Blaze said. Sonic smiled and gave them a thumbs up.

"Nice to see you guys again too. Even you, Omega." The robot in question turned to Sonic.

"Identity, Sonic the Hedgehog. Greetings." He said coldly.

"Same as ever, Omega." Sonic sighed. Celestia and Luna looked to see the small group turn into a sizable team as they mingled with each other.

"It seems they have grown into quite the formidable group." Luna said.

"Yes they have. And with this new enemy, we'll need them to be in peak shape." Celestia commented. Luna agreed. Soler, while petting Wolf, watched as the the group grew acquainted when a lingering question popped back into his head.

"Hey, everyone." Everyone stopped their conversations and looked to him. "Okay, so I'm glad that we're all becoming friends and all, but quick question. How did you guys get here?"

* * *

"Blast that hedgehog and his friends for always ruining plans." Eggman bellowed. The door behind him opened up, and a small robot flew in. "Report."

"Sir, all the Metal Sonic units are accounted for."

"Good. Damage report."

"They have sustained partial damage. No major damage done to internal circuits, but all of their armor should be repaired." It answered.

"Good. Get them repaired immediately. What about the data we acquired on the ponies?" He asked. The robot went to the computer console and pressed a button, pulling up the data collected.

"Sir, this is all that we recorded and obtained." Eggman looked at the new information flow on the screen before him. A devilish smile spread across his face.

"This will do nicely."

 _And the third one is the bag. Ok so I'm putting a disclaimer now. For those who were hoping for psycho Amy I'm sorry to say that in this story it won't be the case. The version of Amy and basically all the characters I'm using is the Archie Comics version. I hate the super-love-obsessed Amy since she's one of my favorite characters. The Comics version portrayed Amy in a much better light, showing her to be a strong character that's not just stuck on Sonic. So again, sorry not sorry. Anywho, with that rant over, this is Solerwolf… OUT!_

 _Note from editor: Hey everybody. Apologies about the lateness of the posts, been a bit busy lately. Just wanted to let you know that my buddy Solerwolf isn't just flakin'. See ya!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Hmmm, wondering and wondering._

 _ **Round Table**_

 _ **(P.O.V. none, Canterlot)**_

After the battle with Eggman had been settled and the citizens were taken care of, the fighters and royalty gathered together in the castle to discuss further matters. The conference room was sizable and windowless. With walls adorned by the Equestrian flag, the room was filled mostly by the massive round table that was centered in it. Everyone took their seats around the table, getting themselves comfortable. Once seated, Celestia started the meeting.

"Now that we are all here, I would like to welcome our newcomers to Equestria. You have my deepest thanks for all of your brave efforts in stopping Eggman. The first matter of discussion will be how our new visitors came to this world. The floor is open." She said. An awkward silence pervaded the room, everybody uncertain. Soler looked around the table and sighed.

"Okay then. Before things get any more awkward, Amy, you start off by telling us how you all got here." He said, sending eyes her way. The pink hedgehog smiled weakly before taking a breath and clearing her throat.

"Okay. Well, how do I start this? Hmm… Well, I'll start from when Sonic and the others disappeared with that bright light."

 _ ***Flashback***_

Amy walked through Knothole, pondering what to do. She had already had teatime with Cream and her mom, Sally didn't have any missions, and nothing was attacking the city. Her schedule was free.

 _What to do, what to do…_ She stopped and sighed. Then something great came to mind, _How about I go see Sonic? My darling is always doing something. Even if it's not exciting, it'll be worth it if I'm with him._ She smiled bright and began her walk to the hedgehog's residence.

Amy walked up to the house and knocked on the door. She waited a few seconds before someone opened the door. A blue female hedgehog stood before her. She wore a simple purple dress and purple shoes. She had a tuft of blond hair on her head, and blue eyes that lit up at the sight of Amy.

"Amy! How are you doing dear?" She asked before bringing the girl in for a hug.

"I'm doing good, Bernie. How about you?"

"Oh, I'm doing great, dear. Please, won't you come in?" She offered. Before Amy took her offer, she recalled why she came and shook her head.

"Sorry, but not this time. I was wondering if Sonic is here?" She asked. Bernadette smiled.

"I'm sorry, Sonic and Soler left earlier today. They said they were going to settle some score or something. You know how those two are." She replied. Amy sighed.

"Yeah, I do. I swear, those two act more like kids when they're together. I don't know how you deal with them living under the same roof." Bernie laughed.

"Oh, Jules and I don't mind at all. The two act so much like brothers we just see it as having another son. Plus, since Tails decided to live with his parents again, there was a free room." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, they do act like brothers. That's for sure."

"Oh! Speaking of Tails, I think they said that after they settled their little score, they were going to be headed to Tails' workshop. They said Knuckles was going to be there too, since Tails wanted to show them something about some weird data. They left early this morning, so they might be already at his shop. So you'd best check there, dear." Amy smiled and nodded.

"Ok, thanks, Bernie. The next time I come over, we have to catch up, and tell Jules I said hi!" Amy said as she jogged away from the house. Bernie smiled and waved at her before heading back inside. Amy jogged down to other side of town to see her friends, mainly Sonic, at Tail's workshop. She could see the shop in site, but stopped in her tracks, despite her excitement. She could feel Chaos Energy in the air, but there was something else mixed with it. The energy started to rise, and soon a white light emerged from the shop. The light spread so fast, all she could do was cover her eyes.

Once the light had dissipated, she uncovered her eyes and saw that everything seemed to still be normal. She checked herself for anything different, and found everything fine.

 _Wonder what happened?_ She quickly made it to Tails' shop and knocked on the door. She waited a few seconds, but got no response. She knocked again and waited. Again, no response. She proceeded to walk around toward the hangar doors, and saw that they were open. She decided to walk into the hangar and then into his shop. When she walked in, she saw no one around, but his equipment was running.

"Strange. Tails never leaves his equipment on when he leaves."

"I was thinking the same thing." Amy jumped and made one of her hammers appear, ready to strike. But then she saw Espio standing there, his hands raised in defence. Amy gave a sigh of relief and made her hammer go away.

"Espio, why do you always have to be so sneaky?" She fumed. He chuckled a bit.

"Well I am a ninja after all. so I think being sneaky comes with the job." He responded. Amy huffed once more.

"Anyway what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to Knuckles. He left the Chaotix to guard the Master Emerald while he was away. We agreed to help and went there immediately, but Vector sent me to ask if we were going to be getting paid for it. I told him we wouldn't, but he insisted I go ask. I'm guessing you're here for Sonic." He answered. She nodded.

"Yeah. I came to see what he was up to, but on my way here, some bright light that came from here. I got here after it had faded, and no one was around." She explained. Espio nodded and began to think.

"Yes, I saw the same thing as I approached here. I also felt some strange energy. It was a mix of Chaos Energy and something else. And if it was a bright light with Chaos Energy, then that could only mean…"

"Chaos Control." They said together. Both began to wonder what exactly could've have happened until they heard some footsteps. The two turned to Silver and Blaze as they walked up to them.

"So it seems we're late to the party, huh?" Silver asked.

"No, more like getting here on time. It's good to see you two again, but what are you guys doing here?" Amy asked, "You came for Sonic to stop some world-ending crisis?"

"Well, no. We actually came here for Soler." Silver started.

"We wanted to get his opinion on something. But it seems like we've missed him." Blaze said.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me that you two only showed up to ask me a question?" Soler asked, interrupting the flashback. Silver scratched his head in sheepishly.

"Heheh, well, uhh, yeah. It sounds silly now, but it was important at the time, I assure you." He responded. Soler wasn't convinced.

"Well what's the question then?" He inquired.

"Oh, we figured it out, so don't worry about it." Silver said. Soler just stared daggers at him, causing him to sweat. Amy coughed loudly, regaining the room.

"Do you mind? I was in the middle of a flashback." She said.

"Hey, I'm the only fourth wall-breaking character here. And yes, do continue the flashback." Soler responded.

"No, not miss him, per se. We think that he and the others might've teleported somewhere again using a Mass Chaos Control." Espio explained.

"Oh? So that bright light was a Chaos Control? I've never witnessed one of such a size. And that'd explain the surge of Chaos Energy it gave off." Silver commented.

"Well, we know that they teleported, but now the bigger question is where." They all began to ponder the possibilities, stopping when a slight buzzing could be heard.

 _What's that coming from?_ They wondered. As Amy scanned the room, she looked over to Tails' computer and saw a little fly laying on top of it. As she got closer to it, she realized it was a little robot with a massive lens attached to it. She grimaced.

"We might not know where they went, but I think we know someone who does." She said as she pointed out the mechanical fly. They all nodded.

"Eggman." They said in unison.

"Well, if Eggman has something to do with this, we better find him. Anybody got any leads to his location?" Espio asked. No one spoke. Amy considered where he could be. She looked down to the mechanical fly in her hand and was struck with an idea. She quickly went back to Tails' computer and started to slowly type in a few things. The others in the room circled around her to watch her work. After a few seconds, a map showed up on the screen with a blinking dot on it, a few miles away from the city.

"Found him! And he's not that far from the city either!" She said with glee. The others' questioning stares signalled their confusion at what she did. She noticed them and winked. "I might not be as smart as Tails is, but I do know how I find out locations. All I did was use the robot's signal to track it back to the base." They still stared at her, now with more amazement than wonder.

"Come on! You can be amazed by my awesomeness later. Let's get moving, to the base!" She ordered. They snapped out of their amazement and nodded as they all left the workshop.

It was nearing nightfall when they arrived at their destination, deep in the woods a few miles from the city.

"Man, glad Tails left some of that extreme gear nearby." Silver said as he stepped off his board.

"Yeah, I remember him building some after the whole Babylon Rouges Incident." Amy commented.

"Well, guess we were just lucky he finished some. But what are we going to do with them now?" Blaze asked.

"That's simple." Amy felt around on the board and pushed a button, collapsing the board into a small suitcase. The board's transformation surprised them all.

"Wow, Tails is a genius." Espio gasped. Amy nodded.

"Yes, yes he is. Now compact the boards and we'll hide them over in those bushes. We'll pick them up later." She said. They compacted their boards and hid them in the bushes before continuing on. Amy looked down at her communicator as she followed the map. "Come on, the map says that his base should be around here." They kept walking, and soon came upon a massive clearing with nothing around. The map showed that they were right above Eggman's base. Amy groaned.

"Come on! It says we're right on it, but nothing's here."

"Maybe you're looking in the wrong place." A new voice replied. The group saw Rouge and Omega walking up to them. "Well look at the little party going on here. I'm guessing we're all here for the same reason?"

"If you mean Eggman, then yes. But where's Shadow?" Silver asked.

"Well Shadow disappeared while he was out on a task. At first, we thought that he just turned off his communicator, but when we went to scan for it, we found out he wasn't even on the planet anymore. Heck, he's not even in this dimension. So the commander sent us to go and find him, and we figured the doctor himself would know where he is. We weren't expecting to find others in our search for him." Rouge explained.

"Well Sonic and the others went missing too, and we found one of Eggman's spying bugs near the last place they were, so we're here. But as you can see, there's nothing here." Amy said. Rouge just smiled mischievously.

"Don't fold your hand so soon, dearie. Omega, if you would be a dear." Omega's eyes lit up as he scanned the entire area around them, including the sky and below ground.

"Scan complete. A large metallic structure is under the surface. There is a nearby hatch that will lead down to it." He reported. Rouge smiled and patted his back.

"Good work. Now, mind showing us where the entrance is?" He nodded and quickly lead them to it. They stopped over a some grass then reached down and pulled off the patch of fake grass, revealing a hatch. "Well good work, big boy. Now all we have to do is open it up." Before anyone could add on, Omega turned his hand into a gun and it hummed to life, ready to blast. All, excepting Rouge, looked at him in shock, who sighed.

"Omega, we don't got to blow the hatch. We got the passcodes, remember?" She explained. Omega looked to her.

"But destroying the door would be most sufficient." He responded. Rouge shook her head.

"Yes, it is. But if we blow the hatch, then Eggman will know we're here, and then we won't get any closer to finding Shadow." She responded. Omega processed her words and put his gun away, producing a sigh of relief from the group. Amy leaned close to Rouge,

"Good going, Rouge. But do you really know how to get in?" She asked.

"Of course I do." Rouge bent down near the hatch and popped open the small panel next to it, revealing a code panel. She quickly typed in the passcode. The hatch opened up.

"Open sesame. Now, as much I love our little get together, me and Omega should get going inside. While you all wait here." At that, Amy fumed, and prepared a hammer. Rouge held her hand up. "But I know just how strong you are with that hammer, so you all can come along." The pink hedgehog relaxed and a smile returned to her face.

"Thank you, Rouge. Now let's get going." She said, leading the descent down the ladder. The others were awed by her quick mood shifts.

"As much as her sudden mood swings can be, we better follow her." Espio said. They agreed and followed the pink hedgehog.

The group moved through the corridors as quietly as possible. They went through several halls that looked alike, and thus, got lost. They came upon a large set of doors with a small keypad on the side. Rouge went up the device and quickly punched in the code, opening it up. The group waltzed into the massive room and noticed several pod-like containers arranged in nice rows. Turning their gazes up, several hundred more pods were hanging up on what seemed to be a conveyor type mechanism. The trackers for the conveyors lead to where the original set of pods sat.

 _These are meant to be dispatched one right after the other!_ Blaze noted. There was also a small terminal overlooking the pods, _That must allow them to be deployed._

"Well now, this room is impressive. I wonder why a place like this is in an underground base?" Rouge commented aloud. That instant, all felt the whole place rumble and shake, forcing the group to their knees, lest they fall. The rumbling continued for a few moments before it suddenly stopped, and everything came to a standstill.

"Was that an earthquake?" Silver asked. Espio put up a finger, silencing him. Quieted, the others started listening. It was the faint sound of rushing wind.

"I don't think it was an earthquake, more of a takeoff." Espio answered.

"Wait, so you mean we're stuck on Eggman's ship?" Amy questioned. Espio nodded, making her groan. "This is just great. First, Sonic goes missing. And now, we're stuck on Eggman's ship. what else could go wrong?" She ceased her whining when the speaker system blared to life.

"Attention, we are in the final stages of the gate jump. All units, get to your assigned stations." A mechanical voice ordered.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound good. Now what do we do?"

"We go find out what he's talking about. We need to get to his control room and get info on what this jump gate is." Blaze said.

"She's right, but how are we all going to get there without getting caught?" Silver asked.

"All of us don't need to go, just one of us. And I think we got the right ninja for the job." Rouge said, drawing the attention to Espio. The chameleon simply nodded in acceptance of this mission. "Great! So I think that we should hold up in here until he gets back." They all nodded in agreement.

"Okay, so if we're staying in here, does anyone see a vent or something?" Amy asked. They all searched the room for vents and exit points, finding one just above the doors. Espio judged the distance and nodded.

"Right, that shouldn't be difficult for me to reach. I'll be as quick as I can." Espio said before he swiftly ran towards the wall and up to the vent. When he reached the vent, he dug a kunai into the wall to keep from falling. He proceeded to take off the vent panel, leaving it to dangle by the last bolt. He then camouflaged himself and went inside.

"You know, he could've just asked me to levitate him up there." Silver commented as he watched him leave.

 _At least the vent has slits to let me see where I'm going._ Espio thought as he traveled through the vents as quickly and quietly as possible. It took awhile before he began to hear voices. He continued to moved towards the voices, and recognized one of them as Eggman's. Espio found a vent cover and peered through, discovering Eggman's control room. Eggman sat in the middle of the room while looking at a massive screen filled with symbols and numbers Espio couldn't understand right then. Eggman appeared to be talking himself through a checklist.

"Okay, the ship is running smoothly. The power levels are rising evenly, and the jump gate's systems have integrated with the ships nicely. Good, all is good." He said. A small orb rolled into the room and stopped before him. "Is the jump gate ready?" The top of the sphere popped up and it turned into a small robot.

"Yes sir, the jump gate is ready and primed to fire. However, we only have enough power for one jump, sir." It responded.

"Yes, I figured such, That's why we need the Chaos Emeralds to power it. And since that rodent and his friends used a Chaos Control and have now teleported to a new dimension, I have to go after them. Luckily, the Chaos Energy the Emeralds give off is simple to track. But the data indicates that this new dimension is flowing with some weird energy. Nevermind, get the jump primed to fire." He ordered. The robot bowed and tucked back into a ball before rolling off. With the robot's exit, Espio began his trip back to the others.

The others sat and waited for Espio's return. Amy, who was worried about Sonic, grew impatient.

"Where is he? He shouldn't be taking this long." Amy groaned.

"Don't worry, Amy. I'm sure he's on his way back as we speak." Blaze said.

"Actually, I've been here for a few seconds." They all jumped, and whipped around towards Espio. When their hearts calmed, all of the warm-blooded group members glared at him. Omega just stood there. "What?" Espio was befuddled.

"Nevermind that. What did you learn?" Amy asked. His solemn expression returned as he recalled the information.

"Well, I learned that we were right on about Sonic and the others being in a different dimension. I also found out that the jump gate is some machine Eggman has invented that allows him to cross over into different dimensions, but it takes a large amount of power for it to operate. Hence, why he needs the Chaos Emeralds to power them. Since he needs them, he's tracking the Emeralds' signals and we are going to be jumping there soon enough." He explained.

"Wait, jumping where?" Before the chameleon could answer, the ship began to rumble once again.

"All preparations for dimensional jump ready. Countdown to jump has commenced. T-minus 5… 4…"

"Guy, we need to brace ourselves." Espio spied an empty pod, "That pod there is empty. Hurry!" They all rushed into the pod and closed it.

"3… 2… 1… Opening rift gate." Eggman watched from his seat at the front of his ship opened up, revealing a charging beam. The beam fired its shot ahead, forming a massive portal that hummed with the power of a new world. The ship lurched forward and entered the portal. As soon at whole ship was through, it rocketed forward. The entire ship started shaking uncontrollably as it sped through the portal of flashing colors and light. Eggman had to hold onto his seat, unprepared for the sudden burst of speed, or the shaking. It felt like minutes of the intensity, but it was in mere seconds that a bright light appeared. Upon approaching the light, the ship stopped its rocketing and shaking, and emerged into the new world.

A relieved Eggman sighed as he heard the sound of rain pound on the ship. He saw an immense forest that sat below him, and what looked like a city or town in the distance. Before he could figure out his next move, he had to perform a diagnostic check.

"Report. What's the status of the ship?" He asked, pushing a button.

"Sir, the ship's power was heavily drained in the jumping process, and some of the hull needs repairs. I suggest we land and begin repairs and restoration of the ship before continuing further. Also, our scans have picked up the sign of an Emerald nearby, as well as the use of massive amounts of Chaos Energy further away. Investigation is suggested, sir." The robot reported. Eggman sat a few seconds in silence, considering the information.

"Okay, we're setting the ship down. Once we've set down, send out Metal Sonic for the Emerald, and send out a surveillance bot to the Chaos Energy source. Also, begin repairs and such immediately." He ordered.

"Yes sir." With that, Eggman set the ship down in the massive forest below. Once down, his units moved out, as ordered. He waited patiently for his team to report in while also thinking about his next plan of attack. He eventually heard a knock at his door.

"Enter." Metal Sonic entered the room, Emerald in hand, and presented it to him. Eggman smiled wickedly, taking the Emerald from him. "Good work, Metal. Now back to your station." Metal bowed and exited. As Eggman examined the magnificent gem before him, a signal popped up on his screen.

"Oh! The surveillance bot must've found the source. Let's see what the cause is." When Eggman pressed the live feed button, he was met with the most intense battle happening before him. He gaped at what seemed to be Neo and Soler fighting it out in the storm, neither giving an inch to each other. He could also see what looked like Neo clones fighting off in the distance, and saw two streaks of blue blurring through the fight. One in the sky, the other on the ground.

 _Sonic and his associates must be taking on the clones while Soler battled the original_ , he guessed. Eggman chuckled. _Well, as much as I may hate it, I hope that hedgehog manages to defeat Neo. He can mess up my plans if he's around. But at at least I'm in the right world. And soon, I'll have my hands on the Emeralds. And I might as well conquer this world while I'm at it._

Meanwhile, the small group of infiltrators slept soundly in a pod on Eggman's ship, unbeknownst to them. The sudden speed and shaking had knocked them out cold, and even powered down Omega.

"And when we woke up, we found out we were in a new world, and that Eggman was going to be attacking a city soon. So we hid out in that pod until the time of the attack, which leads us to now." Amy said, finishing her story. The group around the table were all silent as everyone tried to digest the new information.

"So Eggman did follow us here. That snake." Sonic irritably said.

"Well I don't know what you expected. Eggman would follow you to the ends of the universe to stop you." Soler commented.

"Yeah, well, I'd do the same to stop Eggy." He responded.

"But Eggman aside, the fact that he created a jump gate to get here is what has me concerned." Shadow said.

"Yeah. If what Espio heard was true, it takes a massive amount of energy to power, so the Emeralds would be a more substantial power source. So keeping them away from him is the first task at hand." Silver noted. They all voiced their agreement. Tails, however, appeared to be in deep thought.

"Tails, I know that face. What are you thinking?" Sonic asked. Tails didn't respond right off the bat, but they waited a few seconds for him to collect his thoughts.

"Well, I've actually been thinking a few things. Not all too good though." He said.

"Please, Tails. Anything you bring up could help in the coming days." Celestia added, reminding the Mobians that the Equestrians were still there. Tails sighed with a nod, knowing she was right.

"Well, as much as I hate to bring up the elephant in the room, now we know that Eggman has developed a method of traveling dimensions. That means our time here in Equestria is nearing its end." He said. A whole new weight fell upon the room with the realization that the Mobians would be leaving soon. Some of the girls' faces told the whole story, while the guys did their best to remain steady. Even Luna broke her poker face for a brief moment before putting it back on. Soler was the only one to notice this though.

"Okay. So we got that, but I know there's more you're thinking of besides that, Tails." Sonic said in an attempt to change the subject. Tails nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. Back on the jump gate. It takes a massive amount of energy to power. The Emeralds would do fine, but what if he used a different power source to power it up instead?"

"A different power source? Such as?"

"This world's magic. We've all seen the power this magic can do. And if harnessed, then it could be a new form of power for him to not only power the jump gate, but also as a weapon." Tails finished.

"But our magic is produced from within ourselves." Twilight said. Tails shook his head.

"That won't matter to him. Even if only you ponies can produce it, he'd most likely just take as many of you as he needs and either hold you captive and force you to be power sources, or he'd roboticize you to some extent to obtain the magic." He responded. At that horrific thought Twilight just nodded.

"But we shan't let that happen! No pony under our command will ever succumb to that!" Luna proclaimed.

"I agree with my sister. We would rather give ourselves up than let him harm our citizens." Celestia added.

"I hate to say this, but I wouldn't say that so easily, Princesses." Soler said, making them both look at him for an explanation. For the first time, he actually saw Luna appear angry at him, but he shrugged it off. "I say this because you two, plus Twilight, Cadence, and Flurry Heart, are the most powerful beings in your world, and are able to use magic far beyond any normal unicorn could. So if any of you ever got caught or robotized, then that could literally mean game over for all of Equestria." Soler said, inspiring several gaspes. Neither Princess liked that, at all.

"What do you mean by that?" Luna asked, obviously upset.

"What I mean, love, is that this is like a chess board. You and Celestia are the King and Queen pieces, and the other unicorns are the pawns. If Eggman took the pawns, he'd need a lot of them to get the power he needs. But if he took the king and queen, not only would he have more than enough power to use, but you two literally control the rising and setting of the sun and moon, which he'd then have under his control. You two, and the other alicorns, are our top pieces." He explained.

 _He's right_ , Luna fumed, _but I can't stand it!_ The room fell silent at the turn of events, even Wolf was a bit quieter than usual. Soler took a look at the room of people, and could see physical and mental exhaustion.

"Alright, that's enough of the serious stuff for a while. For now, I think we all need to get some rest or something. We can pick this up later, ya know." He sighed. That got the heroes out their slumps as their fatigue caught up to them.

"Yeah, Soler's right. We should rest up and figure out our plan of attack tomorrow." Sonic agreed.

"Yes, today has been a long day indeed. There are plenty of guest rooms available for you all to stay tonight. So please, go and freshen up before dinner, and then off to bed." Celestia said. She got a response of stomach groans and nods as the group began to disperse. Tails stopped though.

"Oh! Princess, I almost forgot to ask. Could you have your guards collect any and all scrap metal for me? And also, do you have a sort of mechanic stations or something like that here?" He asked.

"I think we do have a workshop that you could use. We'll send word out to our guards and have the metal sent straight to the workshop. I'll have a maid show you the way after dinner." Celestia responded. Tails smiled and nodded.

"Got some ideas in the works, huh?" Sonic inquired as he wrapped an arm around Tails.

"Well, maybe a few." They left the room, leaving Celestia, Luna, Soler and Wolf. Soler sat in the same spot, almost lost in thought. Luna looked to Celestia, signaling a desire for a bit of alone time with Soler.

"Wolf, if you would come with me, I'm sure we can find you some good treats to eat." She said. Wolf perked up at the sound of treats, and followed the Princess out the room, leaving the royal couple. Soler, still in thought, didn't even notice that most of everyone had left when Luna prodded him. He looked around, noticing the empty room, but then looked at Luna and smiled a bit,

"Seems I spaced out a bit back there, huh?" He said. Instead of her usual snarky or cute response, Luna looked at him with slight agitation. "What?"

"Soler, you know I love you. But I am a princess first, and my first duty is to my people. I have to make sure that they are protected and safe, and give them courage and strength by leading them. I know that your information is important, but I don't think that was the right time to give the info. Especially at a time when morale was low in the room." She replied, sounding like Celestia, elegant and calm, yet authoritative. Her tone carried pressure, but he understood what she meant.

"Yeah, you're right, I probably could've waited. But like you said, I love you, but I'm a hero and protector. I'm like you in the sense that I want to keep everyone protected, but I don't like to sugarcoat certain things. I feel that if I withhold certain information, then those I care about could get seriously hurt, or even worse, and I can't let that happen. So I'm sorry if I made you and your sister's statements seem like empty promises, but if it means you and the others stay safe, then it had to be said." He declared. Even though Luna stood firm on what she said, she was able to understand his side of things. From the determined look in his eyes, she could see the hero side of him stand out more. She sighed and her expression softened as a smile found its way onto her face.

"I see your point, but at least pick your timing next time, okay?" He smiled and nodded.

"I'll be sure to." He replied. She continued to smile as she looked at him. As she looked, she noticed that he looked way more exhausted that what a battle could do. He had bags under his eyes, meaning he hadn't been sleeping well. His weariness pulled her heart with worry and concern.

"Soler, are you alright? You have bags under your eyes, and you seem a lot more weary and exhausted than normal, or from what a battle could do to you." She commented. Soler did his best to hide his worry as he maintained a grin.

"Oh, uh, don't worry about that. I'm just tired from the fighting earlier. A good night's rest, laying next to a certain Princess, should have me refreshed and raring to go in the morning. Now, let's go freshen up and get some grub." He said, leading them both out the room.

 _And another long chapter is done. Jeez, why are these chapters so long? I don't even know, but hey, I just write till I feel like it should stop. Well anywho, I got some news, I've gotten a picture of Soler done! I had to use Sonic as a base, so he looks like he's just a Sonic redesign, sadly. But at least I have him done, ya know. And I gotta say thanks to a friend who also did his best to make him for me before I did. To be honest, it helped me when I drew him. If I ever get to making a deviantart, I'll have to post the picture I made. Anywho, this has been Solerwolf… Out!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Eh. Got nothing to say this time._

 _ **Revelations**_

 _ **(?)**_

 _ **You're running out of time…**_

"Oh no, not here again." Soler complained. He was in the black void with the same disembodied voice.

 _ **You can't hold on. Give in!**_

"What are you talking about? Give in to what? To who?" Soler questioned back.

 _ **There's no use anymore. I will become whole!**_ The voice declared.

"Become whole? Listen, voice, I don't care who or what you are, but just leave me alone already! I'd like to actually get a good-night's rest." Soler retorted.

 _ **Your demands mean nothing! I will become whole, or we'll both suffer!**_ Sole raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by 'we'll both suffer'?" Silence. He waited a few seconds. "Hello? Voice? Answer me!" The hedgehog grew frustrated. He then felt a presence behind him for the first time, a malicious one. Soler stiffened before slowly turning around, to a screaming face rushing right at him.

* * *

Soler's eyes opened as he shot up in bed, sweating bullets and breathing harshly. His sudden movement woke up the sleeping Princess beside him. Luna opened her eyes slowly as she sat herself up. She saw Soler breathing hard, holding his head.

"Soler, are you okay?" She asked, concerned. At first, he didn't even know she had spoken to him, still shaken by his dream. "Soler?" This time, she reached out to touch him, causing him to jump a bit. He looked upon her with wide eyes. Her worried face made him take a breath and calm himself.

"Sorry Luna, ya made me jump a bit… Hehe." He responded. He swung his feet out from the sheets and gripped his head again. Luna moved over to him and wrapped a hoof around his shoulder.

"Soler, what's going on? You're sweating and shaking badly." She responded. Soler took a moment to calm himself some. He saw her hoof and gently held it to further relax himself,

"Nothing major, Luna, just some bad dreams." He told her, leaving the alicorn unsatisfied. She placed her other hoof over his chest and felt his heartbeat, unsurprised to feel its racing. Soler took his hand from his head and placed it over her other hoof. They remained motionless for a few seconds before Soler sighed and stood, wincing. He put his shoes on, much to Luna's dismay.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Just out for a morning run. The sun should be up soon, and I want to get a bit of exercise before Celestia has to raise it." He said.

"But your injuries haven't fully healed yet. You should still be resting." She pleaded. Soler looked back at her and gave his best smile.

"Don't worry, you know I heal fast. Love ya, I'll be back by breakfast. Oh, and just give Wolf some dog food if I'm not back in time." And with that, Soler left the room, and a highly concerned Luna.

* * *

Luna walked the halls of the castle with Wolf trailing behind her, long after breakfast. It was midmorning, and Soler still hadn't returned. Half of Sonic's group had left that morning after breakfast. Some wanted to stay to help with the reconstruction of Canterlot. Those included Silver, Blaze, and Omega. Tails stayed behind to start to work on his projects in one of the workshops they provided him, and he hadn't left it since. Wolf stayed with Luna, also worried about Soler. Luna had been walking the halls, trying to keep calm but to no avail.

 _Oh where is that hedgehog? He said he would be back by now._ Luna stopped in one of the gardens and sat on one of the benches. Wolf hopped onto the bench and lied beside her. She looked over to him and rubbed the top of his head, to his pleasure. Luna turned her gaze to the bright blue sky. _At least he's here. But still…_

 _Where's Soler?_

* * *

 _ ***A few hours earlier***_

Soler ran from the castle, and out of Canterlot entirely. It was still night out, but he only cared to run. Usually the cool night air would ease his racing mind.

It didn't this time.

 _It's been months since I could form a Chaos Spear. And I keep having the damn dream that only gets worse each night! What is wrong with me!_ He internally screamed. He ran at almost full-speed, so clouded that he didn't even know where he was going.

He just had to run.

He was running so hard that he almost hit a huge tree. He barely missed it, but still tripped into a hard tumble. He slid to a stop in front of another tree. His injuries flared up as he groaned in pain. Not having enough energy to get back up, he crawled up against the tree and rested on it. All his pent up emotions hit him at the same time now that he was still. The drained hero of Equestria curled into a ball, and began to silently cry.

* * *

Luna sighed once more with her eyes to the sky.

"Sister, is everything alright?" Luna turned to Celestia walking up to her and Wolf.

"Oh, sister. I didn't hear you come up. But if I'm to be honest with you, no, I am not okay." She answered.

"Mind if I sit?" Celestia asked. Wolf took the cue and got up for the Princess to sit. She smiled and nodded to him before sitting beside Luna.

"So what is the problem, Luna?" Celestia asked. Luna hesitated.

 _She is my sister, but I do not want to sound like a pointless worrier. Then again, telling somepony else could help. And advice is always needed with matters like this._

"The problem is Soler. I'm incredibly worried about him." Luna confessed.

"What about Soler is worrying you?"

"Well, I fear for his health. Before the sun had risen earlier, he woke suddenly from his sleep. It had stirred me awake, so when I got up to see what was wrong, he was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. When I called to him, he didn't even hear my voice. And when I reached out for him, he jumped at my touch. Only after looking at me did he calm a bit, but he was shaking hard, as if something had gotten to him. I tried to ask him to tell me what's going on, but he said it was just a bad dream and then left for a run. It has been hours. and he's yet to return." Luna explained. Celestia was quiet for a few moments, looking for the right words to tell her sister. Celestia wrapped a wing around Luna and brought her close in comfort.

"Luna, I can understand your concerns for him, and this does worry me as well, but it sounds to me that he's fighting something on the inside. He might not even know what it is yet. I know it hurts to see someone you love in pain, but I'm sure that once he figures out what it is, he'll come and tell you. You just have to give him time." She said. Luna didn't like it, but when she looked up into her sister's gentle and kind smile, she felt more at ease. She leaned on Celestia.

"Yes, you're right, sister. Thank you." Celestia pulled her in closer her.

"You're welcome, Luna."

 _ **(P.O.V. none, Ponyville)**_

 _ ***Three Days Later***_

Sonic sighed as he walked the streets of Ponyville, his mind busied.

 _Okay hedgehog, let's go over things again. One, Eggman is here in Equestria, and he hasn't shown himself in a few days. Gotta worry about that. Two, Soler hasn't come back from Canterlot yet, and it's been three days. He could be taking a break, so I'll let that go. Three, Rainbow should be coming back from Cloudsdale tomorrow after recovering from the battle. That's great, but that leads to my last problem. Four, I still haven't told Amy that I'm going out with Rainbow yet!_ Sonic groaned and took a seat on a nearby bench.

He looked up into the sky, still racking his brain, which was now hurting. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice Knuckles taking a seat beside him. Knuckles watched as the hedgehog thought harder than he'd ever seen before. He could swear he saw steam coming from his ears. He shoved Sonic, pulling him from his thoughts.

"So thinking hard, or hardly thinking?" He joked. Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha, that joke was so funny I forgot to laugh." Knuckles chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, I think I'll leave the jokes to you. But seriously, I haven't seen you think like this since, well, never. What's on your mind?" He asked. Sonic sighed.

"Man, I've got too much on my mind, and it hurts! I don't know how Tails can hold so much information. Ugh!" Sonic sighed again, "To start, Eggman is here, and he hasn't made a peep since we battled him. And that worries me."

"Hmm, well Eggman being here is a problem, I agree. But knowing him, he's most likely prepping for his next attack since we did take down a lot of his bots. And knowing him, he'll have some new type of robot or something to fight us with. But either way, you know we'll be ready to battle him whenever he shows up again." Knuckles said. Sonic nodded.

"Yeah, true. I just want to stop him before he can cause too much harm, ya know."

"Yeah, I know man, but we'll stop him like we always do. But I feel you have more on your mind than just Eggman." Knuckles inquired.

"Yeah, there is. As you know, Rainbow should be coming back to Ponyville tomorrow,'

"Oh yeah, she is. Her and AJ got messed up pretty bad in the last fight, so they've been recovering. Ain't gonna lie, that farm pony doesn't want to take any day off. But what about Rainbow coming back is concerning you this bad? Wait, don't tell me you-"

"Still haven't told Amy yet." They said in unison. Knuckles shook his head and Sonic groaned.

"Why haven't you told her yet?" Knuckles asked.

"I don't know, maybe because I don't want to get hit with that hammer of hers. Or get Rainbow hit with that hammer either." Sonic answered. Knuckles then slapped Sonic over the side of his head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Dude, I can't believe you think that low of Amy." He replied.

"Hey! You're not the one who gets hit with that hammer, man!"

"Well duh, because I don't do as many stupid things that you do. Tell me one time since your endeavors in love has she hit you because you've gone out with someone that wasn't her?" Knuckles asked.

"Well, remember that time with Fiona? She almost took my whole head off after that one." Sonic answered.

"She almost took your head off because of how you treated Tails in that whole situation. You knew he had a crush on her and you just went out with her behind his back. Which was an extremely low move, blue. Plus, it didn't help that she ended up betraying all of us by joining Scourge." Knuckles explained.

"Hmm… True, now that I think about it. Well, what about that time-" Knuckles put his hand up, stopping him.

"Before you respond, actually think back on it and remember if it was the actual relationship that got you hit, or because of something you did." He said. Sonic was going to counter, but then he considered it more.

 _Well, there was that time with… Wait, I deserved that one. Okay, but what about with Sally and… No, Sally was right that time. And I was to stuck up to see it._

"Wow… You're actually right Knux. Man, I feel sorta bad now." Sonic finally said.

"Well you should, now go and tell her."

"But what if she gets upset man? I hate to see her upset."

"Sonic, Amy is not the same lovestruck girl you met those years ago. She's grown up a lot since joining the Freedom Fighters, which I know you've noticed. Yeah, she might still obsess over you, but now she's more understanding to your feelings. Give her more credit." The red echidna said, playfully punching Sonic in the shoulder.

 _Huh. Amy isn't the same stalker she used to be. She's actually become one of my best friends, and a valuable teammate, like a sister at this point._ Sonic contemplated.

"Hmm… you're right again, Knuckles. Man, that's two in one day, must be a new record. huh?" The two chuckled before Sonic stood up. "Okay. Gotta go find Amy and tell her. Know where she might be?"

"I think she's at Sugarcube Corner. She's normally there helping Pinkie and Cakes run the shop."

"Thanks for listening, Knuckles. I'll be seeing ya."

"No problem, Sonic." Sonic went on his way to find Amy.

* * *

Shadow read over another volume of Equestrian history in the silence of the library. He was alone since Twilight had errands to run. He didn't mind being alone, doing the work he's done with G.U.N. there were long periods of time he would be alone to recon an area or something of the like. But one thing that always piqued his interest was learning. He loved to learn something new. He always figured the more he knew, the better his chances were at dealing with any situation. Through his photoscopic memory, he only had to read and see things once to remember it all, enabling him to skim thousands of pages so quickly. He looked up when he heard hoof-steps and saw Starlight and Spike enter the library. They were chatting about something, but he only caught the end of the conversation by the time they arrived to him.

"Spike, I'm sure that everything is fine. She probably just wants to ask them some questions." Starlight said.

"I don't know. Luna just calling them out of nowhere doesn't sound good to me." He replied.

"Luna calling on who?" Shadow asked, gaining their attention. Spike then handed him the letter he held. It had the crescent moon seal on it. Shadow stopped reading and opened the letter.

"It's a summons for you and Sonic. Luna wants to talk to you two as soon as possible." Spike explained. Shadow swiftly read the letter.

"Hmm… For once, I don't know why she wants us, since this letter is pretty vague. But I suspect it's not for anything good. I'll go get Sonic, and we'll be off." Shadow said. He closed his book and stood to leave the library.

"Oh, wait Shadow. I have a question." Starlight said. Shadow stopped in his tracks for her.

"Have you seen Soler lately?" She asked. Shadow paused in his own certainty.

"I suspect he's still in Canterlot. I'll say hi if I see him there." He answered, and then swiftly left the library.

* * *

Sonic walked into the sweet-smelling Sugar Cube Corner. He could see some ponies in the place, though not as packed as it can get during the lunch rush. The smell of all the sweets being created made his stomach growl. He shook his head.

 _No. Remember why you came here, hedgehog._ He reminded himself. He looked around and found Amy taking some pastries to one of the tables. She gave the ponies their food with a smile. Sonic took a breath and then walked over to her. She was just about to walk away from the table when she saw Sonic walking coming to her, and widened her smile.

"Hey Sonic. What brings you here?" She asked him.

"Oh, ya know. I just love the smell of the pastries here, so I thought I'd stop by." He answered. Amy giggled a bit.

"Sounds like your stomach needs some nourishment, huh? Well if you take a seat, I can get your order in to Pinkie." She offered.

"Well as much as I'd love that, the real reason I came was because I wanted to talk you about something in private. Do you think I could pull you from your work for a bit?" He asked. The look in his eyes confirmed that it was important. She nodded and then walked up to the counter where Pinkie was just getting done giving a pony their food. The pony handed her the bits and left.

"Thank you for stopping by." She said to them before noticing Amy. "Back from another table, huh?"

"Yeah, I just got done serving them their order. Hey, would it be alright if I took off for a bit? Sonic wants to talk to me about something important." She requested. Pinkie smiled and nodded.

"Of course. It's not busy today, so you can leave and come back if you choose." She replied. Amy smiled.

"Thanks, Pinkie. I'll come back once we're done talking." She said.

Sonic was standing right outside the store, waiting for Amy and going over what he was going to say. When he heard the chime of the door, he came out of his thoughts to a smiling Amy. She instantly wrapped her arm around his.

"Okay, so what did ya want to talk about?" She asked. Sonic gulped, but relaxed himself.

"Well how about we walk and talk. Is that fine?" She nodded and the two walked off from the shop. It was a quiet walk at first, the two just enjoying the day. Sonic knew he had to tell her, but he just didn't know how to start. Amy could feel his muscles tense up every so often, meaning he was trying to tell her something.

"Sonic?" He tensed all the way up when she spoke.

"Yes?"

"Is there something you want to tell me?" She asked. He was quiet for a few moments before he sighed.

"Yeah, there is actually." The two hedgehogs took a seat on a nearby bench. Amy removed her arm from around his and looked at him, concerned. He took a breath and turned to face her green eyes. "Okay. So I need to tell you that I'm currently seeing someone." He closed his eyes, waiting to get chewed out or something. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and saw that she was still intently gazing at him, waiting for more.

"Wait, you're not upset about it?" He asked. Amy smiled and shook her head, further surprising him.

"Well, no. I mean, I'm a bit saddened that it's not me, but as long as you're happy, then I'm alright with it. But now I just want to know who it is?" She answered. When he saw how sincere she was being, he started laughing, much to the pink hedgehog's confusion. "What's so funny?" Sonic got out the rest of his laughter before responding.

"I'm laughing at myself. I was so afraid to tell you because I thought you were gonna hit me with your hammer or something. Boy do I feel dumb." He said. At that, Amy fumed and slugged him in the arm, breaking his laughter.

"Ow! Why am I getting hit so much today?" He complained.

"Sonic the Hedgehog! I can't believe you thought so low of me! I thought you knew me better." She said with a huff. Sonic scratched the back of his head, feeling ashamed of himself.

"Yeah, you're not the first to tell me that. Look, I'm sorry Amy. I just really didn't want to hurt you." He replied. Amy lost any anger she had when she saw his face. She smiled sweetly and gently grabbed his hands and forced him to look directly at her gaze.

"Sonic, I'll always love you, no matter what. But what matters mores to me is that you're happy, whether if that's being with me or with someone else. As long as you're happy and you stay yourself, I'll always be there for you." She said with the sweetest of smiles. Sonic was taken back, and blushed. He then began to grin.

"I… I'll always love you too, Amy. And thank you." He responded. Amy's heart fluttered before the two shared a hug. Their embrace broke with fresh red faces. Amy shook her head to focus.

"Okay, okay. Now tell me who the lucky girl is, or mare, I guess. I want to meet her." She said. Sonic straightened up as well.

"Well, she's actually a pegasus. And her name's Rainbow Dash. I'm sure you remember her." He said. Amy thought on the name for a few seconds. Then, she remembered a rainbow-maned pegasus from the battle that had gotten pretty beat up. She then instantly blushed in embarrassment.

"Wait, you mean the downed pegasus from that battle?" Sonic nodded. She blushed even more, becoming flustered.

"Oh, I said all those things in front of her. She must not like me for hitting on her boyfriend." She worried. Sonic chuckled.

"Don't sweat it, Ames. I'm sure when Rainbow gets back tomorrow, we all can sit down and talk. You'll see how cool she is." The two hedgehogs chatted for a bit, not noticing that another hedgehog had walked up to them. Shadow coughed, gaining their attention.

"Finally found you, faker." He said. Sonic smirked.

"Fake? You're the only fake hedgehog around here." He retorted. Shadow rolled his eyes, a smirk also on his face.

"So what's up, Shadow?"

"We've been summoned by the Princess. I'm here so I can teleport us there." He responded. Amy stood up and dusted off her skirt.

"Well I guess that means you're off to the Princess, and I should be back to the shop. It was good talking to you, Sonic. I'll see you two later."

"Yeah, same here Amy." The two hedgehogs watched her leave.

"So you finally told her about you and Rainbow?" Shadow asked.

"Yep."

"Took you long enough, faker."

"Yeah, whatever. So, to the Princess?" Shadow nodded, then pulled out an Emerald. Sonic stood close to him, and in a flash, they teleported away.

 _ **(P.O.V. Canterlot)**_

Sonic and Shadow appeared just outside of the castle gates, startling the two guards stationed there.

"Sorry guys." Sonic said to them as they walked. As they went up the steps of the castle, both hedgehogs took a moment to look back at the city. The city was steadily being rebuilt with the efforts of the team who stayed, but it still had a ways to go. Sonic whistled.

"Man, the place got somewhat wrecked. But at least the rebuilding is going smoothly." Sonic commented.

"Things would've been going slower if Silver and the others hadn't stayed to help." Shadow added.

"Yeah, you're right." The two quietly glanced over the city. Sonic sighed. "Well, that's enough sightseeing. We got a Princess to see." Sonic led the way into the castle. The two hedgehogs walked the halls until they found the throne room. Deciding it was the best place to start, they entered, and were surprised to see three ponies gathered before Celestia in discussion. They all wore construction gear.

"The restoration of the plaza is complete. And over half the city is nearly restored as well, Princess." The tan and burly earth stallion said.

"That's great news to hear. Do you have an estimate of how long until the rest of the city is restored?" She asked.

"We believe that we should have it back up by the beginning of next week. With the Mobians' help, things the process has been sped up immensely." The violet female pegasus replied. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, they have been a great help to us. If that is all, I will let you all get back to work." She said. The three bowed and began to leave the room, passing Sonic and Shadow on their way out.

"Wow, I never thought I'd ever see anyone else in here." Sonic said. Celestia smiled at the two hedgehogs,

"Yes, it does tend to stay pretty quiet around here. But with the recent attack, checkups on the city's progress is daily. What brings you two here today?" Celestia asked.

"We were summoned by your sister." Shadow answered. Celestia's smile faltered some. The hedgehogs exchanged looks of concern and confusion.

"Is something wrong, Princess? Are you two arguing or something?" Sonic asked.

"No, it's nothing like that. But she has been extremely worried these past few days, and it's been concerning me." She admitted.

"Do you know what it is that's been concerning her?" Shadow asked. Celestia stopped herself from saying.

"I think it's better if Luna tells you. I'll see where she is." Her horn lit up for a brief moment, "Luna should be here momentarily." As the words left her mouth, Luna and Wolf walked in from a side door. Wolf happily bounded towards Sonic and Shadow and with his tail wagging vigorously.

"Wolf! We've been wondering where ya been boy. Have you been enjoying your stay at the castle?" Sonic asked while petting him. He happily barked back in response. Luna walked up to the two, and they looked to her.

"I'm glad that you two were able to get here so quickly." She said.

"No problem, Princess. W-"

"What's the problem, Princess?" Shadow asked, cutting off Sonic. She paused for a moment.

"Follow me to a more comfortable place for us to talk." She replied. They nodded and followed her, leaving a worried Celestia.

* * *

Luna, Sonic, Shadow, and Wolf quickly walked the halls of the castle without a word. When they found the room, Luna led them all inside. The room itself had no spectacular decor besides the crescent moon banners of Equestria, though none with the sun. There was also a desk in the room with chairs in front of it, meaning it was Luna's office. There was also sofa on the side of the room with a small table placed in front of it with a little floral arrangements.

"Please take a seat." She said. Wolf laid on the sofa and curled up for nap.

"So Princess, what seems to be the problem that you called us in for?" Shadow asked again. Luna didn't answer right away, still gathering her thoughts. He wavering left the hedgehogs in uneasy.

"Can you two tell me how much you know about Soler?" She finally asked, which neither hedgehog expected.

"Uhh… Well, hmm… We've known Soler for a few years I'd say. He showed up around Knothole out the blue one day. He was fighting some badniks when I found him. He was holding his own but, me being the hero I am, I had to help." Sonic boasted, prompting a sigh from Shadow, "But yeah, after that incident, we've been friends ever since. He even stays with me and my folks, so he's pretty much part of the hedgehog family." Luna nodded.

"So you would say you know the most about Soler then?" She asked.

"Well, even though I have known Soler for the longest. In terms of closeness, I'd say Shadow is probably the one. Especially since he tried to kill Shadow the first time they met." Sonic answered. That surprised Luna to hear.

"He tried to kill you?" She asked. Shadow gave Sonic a hard nudge, but nodded.

"Yes. In our first time meeting, he tried to kill me. But with as little experience he had in fighting someone not mechanical, he didn't stand a chance. In turn, I was going to try and end him, but Sonic stopped us before it could get that far." Shadow responded.

"Yeah, that was a stressful day, to say the least. I was actually scared for one of the few times in my life." Sonic added.

"Yes, it does sound stressful, and I'm glad that things didn't go as intended. But Shadow, why was he trying to kill you? I can't believe it with the way you two act around each other today." She inquired. Shadow looked to Sonic for brief moment, who just shrugged. He sighed.

"Well, I would've thought he would've told you this by now. But it seems he hasn't." Luna looked at the two, confused.

"Tell me what?"

"Well, his past, more or less." Sonic replied. Luna realized she had never asked him about his past, nor had he ever brought it up. "Princess, if you don't mind me asking, don't you think you should be asking Soler about these questions and not us?" Luna bit her lip to hide her worry. But from the concerned looks she was getting from the hedgehogs, she knew she couldn't keep it a secret from them anymore.

"The reason I ask these questions is… Because Soler's been missing for the past three days, and I hoped that maybe you two could help me figure out what's been wrong with him." Luna revealed. Both hedgehogs almost fell out of their seats.

"Three days!" They said in unison. She sadly nodded her head. Both hedgehogs gathered themselves in order to figure out what's going on.

"Three days. No wonder I haven't heard from him at all." Sonic said to himself. Shadow seriously considered what could be happening with Soler. Luna looked at the two hedgehogs.

"So you see, if maybe I learn more of his past, then maybe we could figure out what's wrong with him." She offered. Neither hedgehog responded, instead thinking about what to do.

"Shadow, I know it's Soler's job to, ya know, talk about his past, but…"

"Yeah, I know. If he's missing, then her learning his past could help." Shadow looked to Luna calmly.

"Alright we'll tell you what we know of his past, but it's not all pretty." She nodded.

"Thank you."

"Well, to start, I guess answering why he tried to kill me would be good. So-"

"Yeah, that's actually where it all starts." Sonic interrupted. Shadow glared at him, causing the blue hedgehog to sink down in his seat.

"I'll let you explain."

"Good. Now, the reason why he tried to kill me was because of Neo. Neo had disguised himself as me and did something horrible to him, causing him to set out to find and get revenge on me. That also led to him finding Sonic and his friends. Through them, he eventually ran into me, which led to our battle. Once we were stopped and talked things out, we figured out it was Neo who was behind everything. After Soler witnessed the skill and control I had over Chaos Energy, he asked me to train him to get better at controlling it. I took on his request and we left for two years to train together and travel the world.

I knew the look on his face all too well, and wanted him to be ready for whatever he decided to do. After out training, I sent him back to Knothole to Sonic and his friends, knowing that him being around them would be better than him being around me. From there, I don't know all the adventures he's gone on with Sonic and his friends, but I do remember that there was a time when we all had to fight Neo together. Well, not really fight together, but we were just in the wrong place at the right time. Soler got so worked up in that fight that he entered his dark state and went beserk. It was the first time I had witnessed the dark form, and from that, I knew he needed more training before he went up against Neo again. I offered to retrain him, but he refused this time, saying this was something he had to overcome, which he did. And that's all." Shadow finished. Luna was taken aback and struggled to digest this new information.

"You said that Neo did something horrible to him. What was it he did?" She asked. Neither hedgehog spoke, pure silence. After some hesitation, Sonic spoke with a low voice.

"He killed Soler's first ever love of his life, and her name was Luna." He said. That took Luna entirely by surprise, and she didn't even know what to say. "We don't know much about who she was besides her name and that he loved her."

"He told us that Neo slaughtered the entire village he had called home. He couldn't save any of them, but he said Neo killed her in front of him. He looked like me and told him to go and find me if he ever wants his revenge." Shadow added. Luna was beyond stunned, her mind raced with questions, and her heart hurt more for the absent Soler. But she remembered why she learned all this, so she did her best to compose herself.

"That's horrible… That he had to go through that." She finally said. Shadow nodded.

"Yes, it is. But if you don't mind me asking, how has Soler been acting strangely?" He asked. Luna explained to them what happened a few days ago.

"Hmm, so that's why Soler never showed up for breakfast. And I thought he just didn't want his share." Sonic commented, earning another hard nudge to the side by Shadow.

"Get serious, faker. Him waking up in cold sweat like that doesn't sound good."

"Yeah, from the bags under his eyes, this must be happening often. And him being him, he wasn't going to tell us anything to keep us from worrying." Sonic added. A thought came to Shadow.

"Princess, you said his wounds weren't healing as fast they normally do?" He asked. She nodded, causing him to to groan.

"He still doesn't have his Chaos powers back yet." He said. Luna looked at him questionably.

"What do you mean by that? Shouldn't he always have access to his Chaos abilities?" She asked.

"Well, yes and no. See, when it comes to using our Chaos powers, we generate the Chaos Energy from within ourselves, much like you ponies do with magic. Actually, now that I think about it, magic and Chaos Energy work very similarly. Regardless, yes, we can use our abilities whenever we need them. But in Soler's case, and occasionally mine, if we use all of our own internal energy in one go, we experience massive drawbacks for a certain amount of time. The closest case in point is the Neo battle. Neo entered a massive and powerful state that we could only beat easily with all seven Chaos Emeralds, but since he stole all of them, we had none. Soler used a technique called 'Chaos Synergy,' which unleashes all of his Chaos Energy and gives him massive power for it. But the drawback from it is that the longer he's in that state, the more of his own life is taken away. Meaning-"

"Meaning, if he stays in that mode for too long, he will die." Sonic interjected. Sonic felt Shadow's glare without looking at him. Shadow coughed for attention,

"Anyway, he's right. He uses it for too long, he dies." Luna was amazed at the power he held, but even more questions formed in her head.

"I understand that power has drawback, but why is it that it will kill him if it lasts too long?"

"The reason for that is because it uses all of our internal Chaos Energy, and unlike your magic, our Chaos Energy is tied with our life force. Meaning, if we ever lose it altogether, then we'll die. And Soler lost all of it." Shadow explained.

"But then why is he alive and well?"

"I still don't know how, but when he used all of his energy and it seemed like he was bound to die, he got a spark of energy that was enough to keep him alive. From where he got that spark, I don't know, but it kept him alive. But now that I think about it, before that battle, he entered that state when we were out training. It wasn't for too long, but I do remember that after he let it go, he wasn't able to use his Chaos abilities for a few days. And that was only after an hour in the form. He was already low on energy when he entered that state with Neo. He used all of his energy, and yet he still lived. The drawback from this one must be more than any of us originally thought." Shadow pondered.

"Yeah, something must be wrong if he can't even heal faster." Sonic said. The room went quiet, as no one knew what to say. The air grew heavy, each of them knowing that even with their information, they still had no idea how to find Soler. The silence broke when Wolf started to move around and make noises in his sleep. Sonic sighed.

"Well, I think that we've covered all we can here for today. And I know you might not want to hear this, Princess, but I think that all we can do is wait for Soler to come back in his own this time. I don't know what's going on with him,, but I know he'll come back." He said as he stood, with Shadow following suit.

"Okay. You are right, Sonic. I thank you two for your time, and hope for your safe travels back home." She said, bowing. The two hedgehogs bowed in response and began to leave.

"Wait." The two stopped and looked back at her,

"Yes, Princess?"

"If you would, could you keep this between ourselves until further notice?" She requested. The two exchanged looks briefly, then nodded.

"Sure, no problem. Later, Princess." Sonic said as they exited the office. Luna sat still, reviewing the new information. Her heart and mind were thinking about one thing.

 _Soler, please come home._

 _ ***Elsewhere***_

Soler started to stir. He groaned as he moved, and his injuries returned to life with new waves of pain. He slowly opened his eyes under the shade of a massive tree and was met with the scenery of a forest around him. He began to carefully move around and try to stretch without flaring up his injuries too much.

"Man, I haven't slept under a tree in a long time." He stretched his back and was met with a satisfied pop, "Now I remember why I like to sleep in the branches." He then took a look at his surroundings and saw how he wasn't in a forest that he'd seen before. Even though the forest itself looked like any other place, he felt like there was something different about it. As if there was a weird energy to the place. But the weird thing was that the energy didn't feel bad, but it felt old and familiar.

"Weird, this place feels… Weird." He shook away his thoughts to focus. "Okay. Even though this place feels weird, I think I should get back to the castle. It's midday, and I said I'd be back by breakfast. Luna's gonna be upset." He was about to leave, but stopped when he thought he heard a voice. He stopped and looked around.

"Hello? Anyone out here?" He shouted. All he got were the sounds of the forest in response. He shrugged it off, thinking it was his imagination.

 _Come…_ He heard the whisper again, this time knowing he hadn't imagined it. He grew still and listened.

 _Come… Deeper…_ The voice whispered again.

"Go where? Who are you?" He inquired. Then the wind picked up, sending leaves further into the forest.

 _Come… Deeper… Follow…_ It repeated. He wanted to know where and he got his answer. Soler sighed, but steeled himself and began to follow the leaves.

 _Chapter 5, done. Okay, announcement time. So as you can see. this chapter was pretty long. That being said, the rest of the chapters of this story are going to be longer and filled with more content. The reason behind this is because I don't expect to be able to push this story out for 30 chapters like the first one. So if I can't push out 30 short-medium chapters, I'll just give you longer chapters instead. This one in particular was only about another 2000 or so more words than normal, but they'll get longer. If you like the longer chapters or not, please let me know in a review. Also, I've been thinking about making a 'Soler in series'. So basically, it'd be like Soler in: Equestria Girls, and it'd just basically be the movie, but with Soler in it. But I was thinking about expanding it on more than just MLP, more or less anything. So it could be something like Soler in Overwatch, Soler in Fairy Tail, and so on. I don't know, it's something I've been thinking about. Tell me what you think. Anyway, this is Solerwolf… Out!_


	6. Chapter 6

_The past revealed. (Also outro is a bit dated)_

 _ **Prophecy**_

 _ **(P.O.V. Soler)**_

Soler walked through the forest, following the wind wherever it wanted him to go. The whisper had ceased, and now all he heard were the sounds of the forest around him. He could hear the birds chirping, and occasionally see some of the wildlife scurry about. Since he started his trek, he had only gone in deeper, and all he seemed to find was an infinity of trees and bushes. But one thing he had noticed, or more or less felt, was some weird energy in the air.

 _Where is it that I'm going?_ He wondered. It wasn't long before he spotted what looked like another temple. He rolled his eyes as he came up to it.

"Like, oh my god, how many of these dang temples are in this world?" He groaned. Just then, a gust of wind blew from behind him, sending leaves into the entrance and returning the whispers.

 _Come… Deeper…_ It whispered again.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Let's just make this quick, okay." Soler said, then he entered the temple. When he walked into the temple, everything immediately went silent, stopping him in his tracks. The hedgehog quickly glanced around, and saw that nothing had changed. The exit was still behind him, with the sunshine and the forest. He shook his head, calming himself.

"Yeesh, this place is creepy." He said. He continued into the silent temple, and was met by the sight of stairs leading underground. The black abyss of the stairs felt like it wanted to swallow him whole. He sighed.

"Welp, this just gets better, doesn't it? Down into the darkness I go." And with that, he began his descent into the abyss.

 _ **(P.O.V. none, Ponyville)**_

Sonic walked the streets of Ponyville as he went over the past few days and tried to piece it all together.

 _Eggman is back, and we stopped him. But he hasn't made a peep since his defeat, which is still troubling. Soler still doesn't have his Chaos powers back, and has been missing for going on four days now. And Tails has been silent these past few days, which could only mean he's working on something important, so I don't have to worry about him. Wait, why am I thinking of Tails at a time like this?_ Sonic shook his head of his thoughts.

"Well, I guess on the bright side, Rainbow should be coming back into town today, so that's a plus. And boy, I could really hold that little pony right now, especially with all that's happening." He groaned.

"Hold what little pony?" A voice asked. Sonic turned around and his face lit up with joy. Smiling before him was the pegasus of the hour.

"Rainbow! Oh I miss you!" He said, wrapping her in his arms. She giggled and wrapped her hooves around him, tightening the embrace.

"I've missed you too, blue." She responded. The two broke the hug and then shared a long-awaited kiss. Then, they looked at each other, beaming, glad to be back together.

"So how does it feel to be back in Ponyville?" Sonic asked as the two began to walk together.

"Feels good to be back. I didn't know how much I could miss this place until recently. I'm telling ya, when I caught the smell of Sweet Apple Acres, I hurried here. Plus, there was a certain hegehog here that I missed." She teased. Sonic smirked.

"Well, isn't Shadow lucky then." He joked, inspiring laughter from the couple. Then, they fell into a strange silence. After a few moments, Sonic broke the silence. "Hey RD, listen. I want to apologize for not helping you more back in that fight with Eggman." She stopped to look at him directly.

"Yeah, I should've been there more to back you up, since it was your first time fighting Eggman's forces. Metal didn't help with anything though, but that's no excuse. I should've supported you more, not that I'm saying you needed a lot of support. To be honest, you handled them very well for your first time up against them." He added. Rainbow's demeanor grew solemn. Sonic sweated a bit, and chuckled nervously, "Hey babe, don't sweat it. Really, I didn't mean anything by it." Rainbow just looked at him and smiled sweetly.

"Yeah, I know blue. Hey, mind if we meet up later, babe? There's something I gotta do." She said, she took off flying without an answer, leaving the hedgehog in the road. Sonic kicked the dirt up in frustration.

"Dang it, hedgehog. You did it again." He muttered to himself.

"Hmm, Iwonder how is Miles doing?" Fluttershy wondered as she fed Angel. She had just finished feeding the other animals and left Angel for last so she could relax afterward. The white bunny protested against the idea of being fed last, but she carried on either way. She placed a few carrots in the bunny's bowl, which he happily dug into. She sighed with satisfaction, took a seat on her sofa, and relaxed. "I know he's busy with his project, and I'd hate to interupt, but I'd love to just check up on him."

"Oh, do you mean little ol' me?" A voice echoed. Materializing out of thin air, a long snake-like figure with different animal parts levitating before the yellow pegasus. She smiled.

"Discord! It's so good to see you." She told him. The draconequus smiled back, and the two shared a hug.

` "Oh it's good to see you too, Fluttershy. It was awfully boring back home, so I decided to stop by and see how all my little pony friends were doing."

"Oh. Well, we're doing just great. Well, maybe great isn't the best word for it, but we're doing fine." She responded.

"Well that's good. Oh, but dear Fluttershy, if I may ask, I felt a massive surge in chaos coming from Ponyville awhile back. It wasn't me, being the good cookie I am, so do you have any idea on what it might have been?" He asked. A light clicked in her head, and it dawned on her that he didn't know about the Mobians.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot that you must'nt know about Equestria's new visitors."

"New visitors?" He questioned. She nodded.

"Yes, you see-" A knock on the door interrupted Fluttershy, "One second, Discord." The pegasus walked over to the door and opened it.

"Rainbow, you're back! Oh it's so good to see you again." She said as the two pegasus shared a hug.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too, Fluttershy."

"Is that Rainbow Dash?" Discord said, floating to the door to see the blue pegasus. "Well it really is Rainbow Dash, my stars. To be in the presence of a wonderbolt, I'm honored." He bowed. Rainbow just smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Nice to see you too, Discord." She responded.

"So Rainbow, what brings you here? Do you want to come in for some tea? I was just about to catch Discord up on things." Fluttershy offered. Rainbow shook her head.

"Sorry, not this time, Flutters. I actually came to get you. I'm calling an emergency meeting with the rest of the girls at the castle." She explained.

"An emergency meeting? What's the problem?" Fluttershy asked, concerned. A hint of hesitation came over Rainbow, but she steeled herself.

"I'll explain when we're all together. Now we need to hurry." She said. Fluttershy could see her seriousness, so she just nodded.

"I'm sorry Discord, but we'll have to catch up later." She told him with a smile before her and Rainbow flew off. Discord watched them fly away

 _Well, she never said anything about draconequus._ And with that, he turned invisible and followed.

* * *

Soler continued his way in the darkness. His eyes had adjusted enough to allow him see in front of himself to not trip on anything. But strangely the temple was so well-preserved that there wasn't any sort of vines or nature down there. The stone walls were smooth, and he felt no cracks as he slid his hand against it. Just one tunnel. The only bad part about all this, besides the darkness, was that only his footsteps rang out through the silence. Soler kept walking until he saw a shimmer of light coming from down the corridor. He began jogging towards the brightening light.

When Soler made it to the light, he had to shield his eyes from the light coming from the room he was in. Once his eyes had adjusted, his jaw dropped. It was a massive circular room with holes in the ceiling beaming light from the outside. It could easily fit a good chunk of the ponies from Manehattan in it. He'd actually need a few ladders to reach the ceiling. Besides its size, only the drawings along the ceiling and walls were noteworthy.

 _Hmm… Why did that voice want me to come down her so badly?_ He wondered. He scanned the markings on the walls and ceilings. It took him some time to realize that they were shapes and pictures. As he looked at one, he saw what looked like some Equestrians, six to be exact. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, and one unicron and-

"An alicorn… The girls. But why-" The hedgehog noticed that the picture alongside it showed the six Equestrians and what looked like five bipedal creatures standing before them. Three of them had long, spiky hair, one had what looked like dreadlocks, and the last had, "Two tails. Us." The picture showed the alicorn of the Equestrians and one of the spiked Mobians greeting each other with a grip. The pictures are telling their story. He looked to the next set of pictures, revealing the Equestrians and Mobians standing together against another Mobian with spiky hair.

"Neo." Soler said. The next image showed was looked like seven gems that scattered around a map of Equestria. Following it was a depiction of pairs of Mobians and Equestrians going to each of the gems. "Hmm, that tells of us going after the Chaos Emeralds." As he looked on, he saw what looked like the six Equestrians and five Mobians fighting against an army of the same spiked figure while the main one was in the rear, with three gems inside of him. The image next to it showed one of the Mobians fighting against the main villain. The next showed what looked like a massive dragon-like creature flying the air, and one of the Mobians flying against it with the rest of the group watching from below. The final image showed the dragon, gone, and the ground covered in flowers. The Equestrians and Mobians were all gathered around one of the Mobians, and it seemed like they were all caring for him. Soler took a deep breath, calming himself. This place was showing what happened when he and the others first appeared in Equestria.

 _But the whole place, even though its well preserved, is very old. It looks like this place was built way before our time, heck, maybe even before Celestia's._

"This is all too weird. Even for me. Whoever built this place must've had some way to tell the future or something. I wonder if the people who made this place made those temples as well?" His gaze went back to the next set of pictures, and was shocked. It looked like Eggman's invasion of Canterlot. It showed him and his friends fighting them off and driving them back. The next few images were, for some reason, unreadable. The images had been messed with or something because he couldn't make out anything from them, Soler had turned a full 360 and was facing the way he came in now. When he saw the last image, his face paled. The image showed him and his friends lying on the ground, defeated. And standing before them was a massive creature that resembled a hedgehog. The creature had seven gems inside of it, and the sun and moon were on its shoulders. A shiver went down his spine.

"Whatever that thing is, it defeats us and takes the Chaos Emeralds. But the worse part is the sun and moon symbols on its back. Those could only mean-" His breath faltered with the realization. "I have to get back and warn Sonic and the others about this." Soler ran back down the corridor he came in.

If Soler could have had a bird's-eye view of the corridor and see the ground, he would've been even more devastated to see a massive mural that showed several winged creatures, and fire burning down what looked like a town.

* * *

"So Rainbow, why did you call us all together?" Twilight asked. The Mane Six were all gathered in the map room of Twilight's castle, each sitting on their respective thrones.

"Yeah RD. Even though Knux has been a great help on the farm, I'm itchin to get back to work." Applejack said. Rainbow took a breath before starting.

"Okay girls, I called this meeting because of recent events that have happened." The others looked to each other, confused. "What I'm talking about is the last battle we had with Eggman." A collective 'oh' was heard from the girls.

"What is the problem from that battle, darling? I think things went well with us being able to fight off that creton." Rarity said.

"No, you mean Sonic and his friends being able to fight them off while we did nothing." Rainbow proclaimed. They all gave her questioning looks. She sighed, "Listen girls, when the fighting first broke out, we were handling ourselves okay. But as soon as Eggman sent in his Metal Sonics, we became useless. We didn't stand a chance against them. We were basically slowing them down by being there."

"But Rainbow, we can't be blamed. And I know that they don't blame us for it. We just weren't prepared to fight against those Metal Sonics of his." Twilight replied. Rainbow shook her head.

"No, even if were weren't prepared to fight them, we should've at least been able to support them in battle. But all we did was get hurt, forcing them to protect us and put themselves in unnecessary danger. Heck, if it wasn't for their friends showing up, I don't know how that fight would've turned out." Rainbow protested. That quieted the girls into thought over that day, she was right.

"Okay then, Rainbow. I see your point, but what is it that you're suggesting we do about it?" Twilight asked. Rainbow lit up with determination.

"I'm suggesting that we have them train us." She offered.

"Beg your pardon?" AJ questioned.

"I'm saying let's have the boys train us into shape. Let's have them evaluate our current skill level, and then train us to better fight those robots. We could also work on our teamwork with them too, so we'll be more effective in battle." RD replied.

"Oh. Well, I'm not much of a fighter Rainbow." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, same for me Dashie. I just like to make ponies laugh and smile!" Pinkie giggled. Rainbow paused for a moment, agreeing with them.

"Hmm… Well, maybe they could find a way for you guys to help without fighting. I don't know, but it wouldn't hurt to get their suggestions. Am I right?" The other girls looked to each other for a consensus.

"Alright Rainbow, we're down with your plan. But those that choose not to fight don't have to, is that agreed?" Twilight asked them. A round of agreement was exchanged and the plan was set. "Okay then. We'll get the boys and tell them of our plan. I hope you have a way of convincing them to go along with it, Rainbow." Twilight made her way to the door.

 _ **(P.O.V. none, Canterlot)**_

Luna and Wolf had left the gardens to walk the halls of the castle. Ever since Soler had disappeared, Wolf had been by her side. She had really come to love the wolf, who was much more calm and centered than she expected. The two had developed a routine of her feeding him, then going out to gardens until afternoon. She would sit on the bench and watch him play. Sometimes he would even come and lie beside her, with his head in her lap. She'd just pet the wolf that relaxed under her touch. The two had gotten so close that, once she found out he doesn't shed, she let him lay on her bed at night. The duo had truly bonded over the last few days, and she was glad to have him with her.

Luna and Wolf were walking, the Princess deep in her thoughts, when the two heard footsteps coming from around a corner. They both stopped in their tracks and waited to see a white hedgehog walk around the corner.

"Soler…" Luna whispered. Soler looked up to the two, surprised but happy to see them. He smiled brightly at them.

"Hey love. Sup Wolf. Long time no see." He said. Luna became too overcome with emotions to speak. Regardless, Wolf barked happily and bound over to him with his wagging tail.

"It's good to see you too, boy. I hope you haven't moved in on my girl while I was away." Wolf barked at the joke and enjoyed the scratches on his head. Soler looked up to Luna.

"Hey Luna. I'm sorry I wasn't back in time for breakfast like I said I would. Kinda took an unexpected nap in a random forest. Hehe," Luna's expression had calmed and she began to stroll over to him. "Listen, you can chew me out as much as you want, and I know I'll deserve every bit of it. But that might have to wait. See, I woke up in a forest and found a weird temple that was telling-" _SMACK!_ The sound of the hit echoed through the silent halls. She stunned him, though the strike did not fully register with him. He turned back to Luna, to the storm of hurt and anger in her face.

"Did you just wing slap-" _SMACK!_ She cut him off with another wing slap. Soler rubbed the side of his face. "Yep, so you did."

"How dare you return out of the blue and act like everything's alright?! Do you know how worried I've been?" She interrogated, her suffering becoming painfully obvious. Soler stopped rubbing his cheek and looked at her, his own emotions in a swirl.

"Wow, I didn't know that you'd get so worried over just a few hours." Soler teased.

"You think this is all a joke? How dare-" She was about to slap him again when he put his hands up in defence.

"Luna, wait! Please! Hear me out." He pleaded. She stopped and looked at him, her expression never changing.

"Okay then, explain."

"Thank you. Listen, I don't really know why you're so upset about the few hours I've been missing from action, but-"

"A few hours? A few hours! You call four days just a few hours!" She barked back, surprising Soler.

 _Four days? I could've sworn I was out for only a few hours._ He thought. He focused back onto the pained and angered face of the Princess of the Night. He sighed.

"Well now it makes sense why you'd be upset at me if I was gone for that long. I'm sorry babe, I-" He went in for a hug, but she pushed him away.

"No. Apologies won't do this time."

"Okay then. What will do this time then?" He inquired. She paused a moment to think, and the conversation with Sonic and Shadow came to mind. Her heart raced, the only thing scaring her what his answer to her question might be.

"Tell me the truth." She responded. He looked at her, confused.

"Tell you the truth about what?"

"On how you're doing, about those dreams, everything. I just want the truth." She said. Soler was quiet for a few moments, considering his answer. He wanted to tell her everything right now, but with all that he's seen, and his personality, he needed to protect her at all costs. Even if it meant that she would be mad at him for awhile. He took a breath and exhaled, giving Luna hope. He put on a soft smile.

"Luna, I've told ya. Besides the bad dreams I've been having every now and then, I'm perfectly fine, really." He answered. Luna lost her small smile as she turned away from him, doing her best not to cry.

"Leave." She said quietly. His ears perked.

"What was that?" He asked.

"I said leave!" She shouted.

"Luna-" the shocked hedgehog began.

"No! If you don't trust me enough to tell me the truth, then leave. Now!" She ended. Luna stormed away before Soler could protest. It was deadly silent in the hallway, the tension thick, but slowly leaving. Soler sighed and glanced over at a still-present Wolf, who had remained to the side in order to make himself small and unnoticeable. When he saw Luna walk away, he rose and looked between her and Soler.

"Wolf, you know I'm doing the best thing, right?" Soler asked, holding his hand out. Wolf looked at him for a few seconds before giving a whine and then chasing after Luna. Soler sighed again, alone.

"Wow.. So this is what it's like to get divorced. Lost the wife, and she took the kid. Though the wife is an alicorn, and the kid is a wolf." He slumped as he watched them leave together.

 _I know what I'm doing is I'm right, I just hope she'll understand why soon_ , he thought as he made his way out. Soler turned a corner and jumped when he saw Celestia standing there. He took a second to catch his breath.

"Celestia, you scared the heck out of me." He noticed her look of concern. "I'm guessing you heard all that?" She nodded.

"So I'm guessing you're going to chew me out know?" She shook her head.

"No, that wouldn't be right. Though I am concerned for Luna, I know this is a disagreement not only between you and my sister, but also between hearts." Celestia replied.

"Wow, that was really elegant. And you're right. She doesn't see that I'm doing what I'm doing is to protect her." He said. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, I understand that you want nothing more than to love and protect her and others. From the time you've been here, and from what I've been told and witnessed, you're extremely selfless. You put others before yourself at all times. Even if you're in pain or hurt, you'll take that pain and hide it from others to keep them from worrying." She said before she started to walk off. Celestia stopped, with Soler watching her closely. "But don't you think that by not telling those you care about when you're hurt, that you're just causing them more worry than by just telling them?" She left Soler to his thoughts. Soler groaned and ruffled up his quills in frustration.

"Jeez, Celestia went full mom mode on me by back there. She was worst than mom back home, doing the, 'whole I'm not mad I'm just disappointed' thing." He groaned again, "I wished she'd just be mad at me." He exhaled to try and relax himself.

"I'll deal with this later. Right now, gotta get back to Sonic and the others." He left the castle and boomed off to Ponyville.

* * *

Soler arrived at Ponyville in a few minutes, pacing himself due to his injuries. The sweet scent of the apple orchard filled him.

"Man, I missed that smell. I guess everyone is at the castle." He jogged to the castle, getting a few waves from the townspeople along the way. He stopped in front of the castle and walked in. When he walked in, he was met with the sound of arguing.

"What do you mean you won't train us?!" Rainbow shouted. Soler walked into the map room to see his friends, except Tails, gathered. There seemed to be a heated debate between the girls and the boys. Sonic sighed.

"Listen babe, it's not that we don't understand, it's just-"

"What? You don't think we can handle it?" RD interjected. Sonic sighed once more.

"So I see, the team really does fall apart when the fearless leader isn't here." Soler said. Everyone turned to him with faces of happiness. However, Sonic and Shadow bore knowing expressions.

"Soler, you're back! You couldn't have more perfect timing. Back us up on them traning us." Rainbow said.

"You girls want us to train you?" He asked. The girls nodded, "Well I don't really see a problem with that. I think it's a good idea. What's the problem?" Soler walked up to the table.

"The problem is the style of training they want." Knuckles said.

"Which is?"

"They want us to fight them full force." Shadow answered.

"Well, maybe not full force-" Fluttershy started.

"No, he's right, full force. If we're ever going to get better, you guys holding back on us won't do anything but harm our progress." Rainbow interrupted. Soler looked at all the girls.

"You girls really committed to this? To us fighting you guys full force." Soler asked. The girls all nodded.

"Alright then, you can battle me then." He said. The girls collectively gave their approval.

"Great then, let's get started right away. Where should we spar?" Twilight asked.

"The field outside of town should work fine." Soler suggested. Without a moment of pause, the girls filed out of the room in excitement. When they left, Soler could feel the glares he was getting from the ones left. He turned to meet them.

"What?" Knuckles just walked passed him and slugged his arm.

"Ow! No need for that." Then there was Sonic and Shadow, who looked at him like upset, knowing parents.

"What? You two gonna punch me too?" He asked.

"No, but we should after all that we've heard." Sonic said. Soler rolled his eyes.

"We gotta talk after this." Shadow stated.

"Yeah, we do. I found something out that you guys need to know. But for now, let's get this training started. And don't worry, I'll go easy on them. Maybe." The three hedgehogs left the castle. Unbeknownst to them, a certain draconequus had seen everything, and his curiosity of these Mobians kept growing.

* * *

"Okay! So first, who's all battling today?" Soler asked, standing before his friends. Rainbow, Twilight, and Applejack stepped forward. Soler nodded. "Yeah, I expected as much. So who's first?" With a second of hesitation, Rainbow flew out to meet him, a determined smirk on her face.

"And I figured this as much. Okay then, let's get some distance between us and begin when you're ready." He responded. She nodded, and the two distanced themselves from each other. The rest of the group made sure to catch everything that would happen, besides Sonic.

"Come on, Rainbow! Kick his butt!" He cheered. Knuckles chuckled.

"This really has you that worked up already?" He asked.

"Quiet, knuckle-head. You're going to be the same way when AJ has to fight him." Sonic retorted. Knuckles only rolled his eyes in response.

Rainbow's spirit was boosted by the cheer.

"Don't worry babe, this'll be quick!" She stated, bringing a smirk to Soler's face.

"She's right, this is going to be over before you know it." He added. The two entered a staredown. Then, Rainbow took off into the sky, gaining height and distance as fast as ever. Soler prepped himself and watched her in the sky, flying around. She watched him on the ground, waiting for him to take action.

 _He's not forming any spears._ She thought, and waited a few more seconds. Her smirk only grew with her confidence. _Alright, if that's how he wants it._ The pegasus proceeded to dive bomb towards him. Her blistering speed took Soler off guard, but he was able to just barely dodge it, and felt the gust of wind from the sweep. He watched as she rose to the sky again.

 _Yeah, her flying skills aren't to be taken lightly. Gotta stay on guard._ Rainbow circled around and dived at him again with greater speed than before. He knew he couldn't wait to dodge, so he dashed to the side to evade. Rainbow smirked, hoping he would do that, as she quickly veered directly towards him at full speed. He wasn't expecting that, and instinctively dropped to the ground to dodge it once again.

 _Dang it!_ RD griped as she soared back into the sky. She hovered this time, watching Soler stand back up.

"This isn't much of a fight if all you do is dodge my attacks." She boasted. Soler smirked.

"Well, not going to lie, your speed took me by surprise. But a fight is more than just attacking RD, don't forget that." He responded.

 _She's right though. I'm still trying to figure out how I can bring her in close enough to strike._ Rainbow smirked before flying into clouds. Soler couldn't see what she was doing, but she was quickly gathering up clouds until the sky above was covered. Once Rainbow had enough clouds, she poked her head through them to see Soler watching them carefully. She grinned and pulled her head back up. She swiftly began to bounce all over the clouds. Soler watched as the white clouds turned grey, and then into a dark black, rumbling with great power. Suddenly, lightning struck the ground right before him. His quills stood up from the energy of the strike. The rumbling began again, and he leapt out of the way to evade another strike. Thus began a dance of Rainbow raining down bolts of lightning, and Soler running around them in evasion.

The group watched as the amazing duel went on. Sonic was especially on the edge of his seat. Soler dodged the fast strikes of lighting, feeling the energy of the strikes before they landed. The strikes stopped for a moment, and Soler caught his breath.

 _Man, I need to get that pegasus down here! But how?_ Soler thought. His eyes widened, and a sly grin spread across his face. Rainbow was sitting on one of the clouds, recovering from all the jumping around.

"Okay! That hedgehog must be fried by now." She poked her head through the clouds and was shocked to see Soler just relaxing on the ground, lying there with his head propped up on his hands. He gave a yawn and opened an eye to look up at a dumbfounded Rainbow. He smiled and waved at her.

"Hey RD! Strange weather we're having today, don't ya think?" He asked calmly, a massive attack on RD's pride. Soler could see her anger rising, and his grin grew with it. "What's wrong? I thought we were battling, ya know. But I mean, if you want to stay up there and give a decent light show, I understand. I'll just be laying here, waiting for you." That taunt was the last straw, sending her rage over the top.

"Oh, you want a fight, huh? Well I'll take you down with one hit!" She shouted, growing increasingly riled.

"Yeah, kick his butt babe!" Sonic shouted from the sidelines, which only fueled her more. Soler merely yawned at her declaration. With that last blow to her pride, she went back up into the clouds. Soler's expression became serious as he rose up in preparation for the attack. It was quiet for the next few, tense seconds as the grey clouds stilled in the sky. His senses perked hen there was a boom and the clouds parted to as Rainbow Dash hurtled right for him. This nose dive was far faster than any of the previous ones, her rainbow trail speeding right at him. All his muscles tensed as he watched the speeding bullet come right at him, waiting for his one shot.

Those on the sidelines watched as she closed in on him until right at the point of impact, another boom came with a massive dust cloud around the two fighters. Sonic's nerves had him almost ready to pass out. Everyone waited until the cloud settled to see who the victor was. They were awed, especially Sonic, to see Rainbow buried face-first in the dirt, and Soler standing on the other side of her.

"The winner is Soler." Knuckles said. Sonic quite nearly fainted at the sight of the downed pegasus. Soler went over to Rainbow and pulled her head out of the ground. He laid her on her back and chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, figured that would knock her out." He said, lifting her gently and bringing her over to the others. Sonic and the other ponies, dumbfounded, gaped as he returned to them.

"Um, does anybody know what just happened?" Pinkie asked. They all looked to Shadow, whose solemn countenance hadn't changed. He felt the stares, but shook his head.

"For once, even I don't know. It happened too fast to catch." He said. Soler walked up to them and carefully placed Rainbow down. Sonic immediately moved to tend to her.

"Don't worry, blue boy. She's fine. She'll be out for a little while, and will probably have a massive headache when she wakes up, but she's fine." Soler assured him.

"Okay. Now that we know she'll be alright, mind telling us what ya did?" AJ asked.

"Oh. Well it's quite simple, really. See, I needed to get Rainbow to come down to me so I could counterattack. So I thought what would make her come down to me, even if it's against her better judgement-'

"Her ego." The girls said in unison. Soler nodded.

"Yes, her ego. So I kept dodging and baited her to use a full force dive bomb at me. When she was just about to hit me, I jumped over her, grabbed her mane, and threw her into the ground with the force of her own momentum. Of course, I did my best to slow her down a bit to lighten the impact." He finished. They all nodded with understanding. "So, if you don't mind, I'll save all of my critiques for the end, once everyone has gone. So whoever is next let's gets started." AJ proudly stepped up this time.

"Alright partner, it's you versus me this time. And I won't be going easy on ya." She announced. Soler nodded and the two walked out to get some distance and into their fighting positions. When they were ready, Soler bowed.

"Ladies first." He said coolly. AJ smirked.

"How kind of ya." Soler rose, and before he could move, he found a rope around himself. He looked to see AJ holding the other end of it tightly as he struggled to get loose from it.

"Boy, doesn't this seem familiar." He said. AJ grinned.

"It does. But it fon't fe like last fime." She struggled. Before he could react, AJ pulled Soler off his feet towards her. In the same motion, she turned around and got into the bucking position as Soler panicked.

 _I can't get hit by that!_ At the last moment, he dived to the ground, feeling the wind of the buck breeze past his head. He rolled and escaped the rope, turning back to another buck coming his way. He couldn' dodge it so he punched against the buck. The two clashed with a mighty _THWACK!_ Both fighters slid apart from each other. The group watched this display of power, impressed. Knuckles was pleased by how AJ held her own against Soler.

"Wow AJ, that buck of yours is incredibly powerful." Soler commented.

"I thank ya for the compliment, partner. You're the first being to block one at full force." She replied.

"Well thank ya." He replied.

 _In all honesty, that was one of the most painful attacks I've had to bare hand block._ Soler's hands painfully pulsed. _Definitely not doing a repeat performance_. The two entered a staredown as they reset themselves for the next clash.

 _How am I gonna take her down fast?_ Soler wondered, _Drawing this out won't end well for me. Haven't fully healed._ His ears twitched, and the hedgehog charged right at her, taking her by surprise. She turned to try and buck him, but he simply jumped over her and lightly landed. He then quickly began to dance around her as she tried to strike him, but to no avail. The others observed curiously, it looked like Soler was dancing around her to tire her out.

AJ eventually lost track of Soler. She then heard him whistle, and whipped around to the sight of Soler wearing her hat, and a grin.

"M'lady." He said, tipping the hat to her. She fumed a bit and took a step forward, but when she did, her leg became jelly.

"What in tarnation?" Her whole body started to wobble like a wave. Soon enough, she was on the ground and unable to pick herself up. She could not even move her body.

"Game, set, and match." He said with a smirk as he went over to her. Everyone watching was more confused than before as Soler came back holding another defeated pony. Soler handed AJ over to Knuckles, and placed her hat back on her head. The group looked over her as she tried to move, though unable.

"Okay, what did you do this time?" Pinkie asked.

"Well this one was a bit trickier than the last one. See, this time, I decided to take her down without having to full-fledged fight her. Applejack's strength is topnotch, so a head-on fight was out the picture. So the quickest option was to hit certain pressure points on her body to semi-paralyze her. Or just make is so she couldn't move her body for a little while. How ya holdin up by the way?" He asked. With Knuckles holding her, AJ struggled in vain to move one of her hooves.

"Well, besides the weirdness of not being able to move, I'm fine. So good job in taking me down, partner. I guess." She answered.

"Well that makes sense, but the next question is how did you know her pressure points?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh. That's simple, I read about the anatomy of the ponies a long time ago. It was when I was bored and at the castle alone, so I read up on pony anatomy and things on each of species. Did you know that the most sensitive part of a unicorn in the horn, and if you cut it off it grows back! So fascinating, if I do say so. Oh! Did you also know that the pegasus' hooves are sensitive to them? It's because they spend most of their time in the clouds, so they're always so wellkept. So fascinating." Soler went on. He realized that everyone grew bored as they stared. He chuckled nervously. "Don't, uh, worry about it. So Twilight, you ready to get this match going? Cause this will be the last one for me, since my injuries are flaring up like crazy." He walked off to the field. Twilight looked to the others, confused. She looked to Shadow, who just shrugged for once.

"Go with it and don't hold back on him." He told her. Twi took a breath to steady herself, before walking out to meet him. The two got in battle positions, though Twilight appeared more worried than battle-ready. Soler huffed.

"What's wrong, Twi?" He asked.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You've already been through two fights, and you said your injuries are flaring. We don't have to do this if you don't want to." She replied. Soler shook his head.

"Twi, if I wanted to call it, I would've already done so. Now get ready and don't hold back." Twi could see he was sure, and shook away any worries to focus on the battle. Twilight's horn lit up fired off several quick shots of magic, forcing Soler to dodge before he could charge. He recovered quickly and dashed right at her, but was slapped back when he ran into her bubble. Twilight smirked before she charged another quick attack and blasted Soler away. He rolled back a few feet and got on a knee as he evaluated the situation.

 _He's not getting that time._ Twilight fired off another set of attacks to keep him off-balance and moving. Soler dodged the shots by running off, but soon found one of the shots following him right on his tail.

Soler ran in an attempt to escape the attack while Twilight was charging her next attack. The homing attack was upon him but Soler saw a tree, and then began to vibrate extremely fast, phasing through the tree. He wiped some sweat from his brow and winced slightly from his injuries once the attack struck the tree. He turned and charged towards Twi, aiming to stop her from charging her attack. In mere seconds, Twi blasted off her attack and shot out multiple spearlike missiles in a ray. The attack spanned a large area, all homing in on Soler. He was shocked, but kept on moving and dodging about as they rained down upon him. Soler had avoided most of the projectiles, but tripped.

The remaining shots rained down on him in with a furious passion. The others were impressed by how Twilight was seemingly able to down Soler. Twilight gave sigh of relief as she caught her breath, a small smile on her face after beating Soler. She watched as the smoke cleared, but Soler wasn't there.

 _Wha- Where is…_ She felt something on the back of her head. Soler was standing behind her with his fingers forming a handgun. Twilight stood frozen in place. _I didn't even feel his presence!_ Soler smirked.

"Bang." He pressed hard on the back of her head. Twilight wobbled and fell to the ground, stunned. She looked up to a smiling Soler. "I won this one, Twi." The others watched in shock and awe at the fight's end. Thoughts gathered in the silence that ensued.

"SPLENDID! Well done! Great show!" A sudden voice startled the group as it came from nowhere. Then a weird creature showed up, making the boys jump, though the girls were used to it. "Oh you Mobians are some fascinating creatures indeed."

"What the hell is that?" Sonic asked, pulling Rainbow closer to him. Shadow got into a defensive position, prepared to fight it. It gazed at them with the most unphased expression.

"Oh, they're so defensive too. Yes, this is going to be quite interesting."

"You boys can relax." Fluttershy said, making them look at her. She walked in front of the new being. "He's a friend of ours. This is Discord. Discord, this is Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and the one that fought Twilight is Soler. These are the new friends we've made, and there's more of them." The boys studied Discord warily, and Discord only looked at them with an amused smile.

"What the heck is that thing?!" They all looked to see Soler and Twilight walking back up to them.

"That's Discord. He's a, uh, friend." Twilight explained. Soler examined Disord once more and just nodded, accepting it.

"Okay then. Nice to meet ya, Discord. I'm Soler."

"The pleasure's all mine." He replied. The small group then began to move back to town, discussing the fights, all while Discord floated above quietly evaluating the Mobians.

 _So these beings are the ones that hold all of this Chaos Energy? Hmm, the upcoming days will be interesting._ As he examined, them he stopped at Soler, whose energy felt far different fro his fellows. _And that one in particular is most interesting._

 _Jeezum, another one done. This one took FOREVER to finish, oh my gosh. It's partially my fault cause I've become slightly unmotivated, and have fallen into ruts with all the stories I have going on at the moment. Which is more than this one and the EQG story, trust me. Also, be on the lookout for the One-Off Tales to be getting updated, as I'm soo ready to try out some different genres of stories. Of course, it'll have these characters in it, but I'm going to put them through some weird twists, and the best part is that none of it is canon! So anything is on the table._


	7. Chapter 7

_Hmm, figuring it out...  
_

 _ **Days To Come**_

"I shouldn't do this, I shouldn't." contemplated Luna who was pacing in her room with a drowsing Wolf watching her. It had been two days since her argument with Soler and she hadn't heard from the hedgehog since. Though she knows he's still in Ponyville since sending a letter to Shadow and getting back the word "Grounded". Though she didn't know what the word entails she figured it meant he was still in Ponyville which brought a bit more ease in her heart. But knowing where he's at brought her to her current predicament,

"I shouldn't. I should wait till he tells me himself. Right Wolf?" she asked the wolf who only tilted his head sideways in a questioning manner.

"Yes, you're right. If there's one thing Soler and I both share is stubbornness but I just have to know what it is that's going on with him." Luna stopped her pacing looking out to her balcony to see the sun was setting meaning she had to make a decision. Once the sun was completely set Luna lit up her horn and brung up the moon and stars. After her task was done she sighed as her decision was at hand.

"I haven't been able to peer into his dreams for weeks now but I can peer into others subconscious if my connection is deep enough and I know our connection is deep enough. Plus the subconscious mind doesn't lie so I'll be able to ask him what is wrong. But it's such an invasion of privacy, yet it's hurting me to see him like this, so drained and tired. I got to know what's hurting him so I can help. There isn't anything wrong with that. Right?" she asked again but this time the Wolf had dozed off tired from his day before. She gazed at the sleeping wolf not really looking at him but past him in her thoughts. Luna shook her head trying to clear her thoughts, 

"Ok even though it might seem wrong I just got to know. I'll ask for his forgiveness later." with her decision made she went over to her bed and lay down preparing the spell.

 _It's been such a long time since I've used this spell it feels almost foreign to me._ She thought. The way the spell worked is a bit different than how she peers into other ponies dreams. For her to peer into another's subconscious she herself will be put in a state of meditation to where no outside forces could wake her but only until she breaks the connection could wake her. Everything was silent as the Princess entered her state of meditation focusing on the bond between them. At first, she couldn't feel anything but as she deepened her meditation the world around her started to vanish as the tug from the connection between her and Soler was felt. Once the tug was felt she didn't resist and let the path between the two open and her consciousness slip through the path.

When Luna opened her eyes again she was met with a white void that seemed to go on forever. She didn't panic remembering why she was here and who void this belonged to. So Luna calmly spoke to the void,

"Show me the cause of your pain." there was no response no sound or movement but when Luna turned around she saw a new door appear that wasn't there before. Without wasting a beat she walked up to the door the sound of her hooves echoing through the void. She paused in front of the simple door noting there was nothing special about the door just that it was a simple wooden door. She took a final moment to gather her thoughts and brace for whatever she might see. The door opened without her using any magic almost as if it was welcoming her in. A bright blinding light could only be seen through the door but that didn't discourage her as she pressed on through the light.

When she regained her vision she was surprised to see that she was in a calm meadow with a hill and tree that overlooked a larger field. Luna was surprised by the calm breeze and flowing grass just mainly the overall calmness of this place. The princess halted her thinking when she noticed that on the hill gazing up into the sky was Soler. Her heart skipped a beat at his sight as all she wanted to do was run over to him but she remembers that this is his subconscious and it wasn't really her Soler. The princess began her walk up to him to ask her questions, as she got closer to him she noticed how he seemed really intent on looking for whatever it is he's searching for in the sky. Once she was upon him she could take a real good look at him and notice how calm his breathing was, how focused his eyes were and how there were no bags under them, he looked completely healthy. Luna gathered her thoughts and with a calm voice she asked him,

"Show me what is wrong with Soler." The hedgehog before her didn't make a single movement whatsoever. He was as still as a statue making no sign that he heard her request. Luna looked at him questionably since she got no response from him. She opened her mouth to speak again but,

"Ya know, its funny how people's perceptions can be so wrong," spoke Soler still not looking at her and at the sky. The way he spoke to her didn't feel like he was actually speaking to her but just thinking aloud. Either way, she quietly waited and listened to every word,

"An example is myself.' Soler took his gaze from the sky to his hand,

"You guys say and think I'm so strong, that I'm such a stable guy. That I never seem to lose my way.' Soler closed his eyes and shook his head dropping his hand,

"But you guys couldn't be so wrong about me. I'm so weak." she could hear the sorrow in his voice and it made her want to bring him into a warm hug. She knew it was just his subconscious but it was still him and the fact he felt this way was troubling in its own right but she had to focus on the first task of getting to bottom of his current issues. So pushing her immediate feelings away she spoke as emotionless as she could,

"I need to find what is causing you pain. So please tell me what is it or guide me to where I may find it," she responded. At that, she got his full attention as he looked right at her and she could feel her heart bursting. He looked at her with such a hurt and pain-filled face it could only resemble a puppy who has been scolded. She could feel he was holding back his tears which only made her feel even more for this hedgehog,

"Y-you don't even care. You come here yet are unwilling to listen to his sorrow. You're like him." he responded by saying the last part in slight fear. Though she wanted to console him hearing that last tidbit was enough to push the fragile hedgehog a bit more,

"Him? Who is this him?" she asked. The Soler in front of her visibly tensed at that question as fear spread across his face,

"Him. No, no you don't want to meet him. Please don't call for him. He's so terrifying." the poor boy was trembling at this point. Luna stepped closer to him,

"Please, you must tell me who he is. I need to know how to find him." she insisted. All the while they were talking a black mist was creeping up behind the completely unaware princess. Soler was staring at her in true disbelief,

"You want to find him? No, no, no, you have it wrong. So wrong." he responded back.

"What do I have wrong?" she asked in return her anger flaring a bit,

"You don't find him. He finds you." no sooner had the words left his mouth the black mist leaped onto Luna and consumed her being in one swift motion. Luna didn't know if she screamed or Soler did but she could remember one for sure. But the scream mattered not, for now, all she could see was darkness. It was so dark it was hard to tell if her eyes were open or not but from looking down at her hoof she knew they were. There was nothing or no one here, just the void of dark. It gave off an unnerving feeling that she shouldn't be here yet even if she wanted to leave there was no exit. She wondered if this is what was causing Soler to be in such the state he was in, but a dark void wouldn't cause as much trouble as what was being shown. Plus there was that 'him' that was the other Soler was speaking of which could only mean this was his doing.

"Show yourself, coward! I am not afraid!" she shouted into the nothingness. She got no response but she could feel the void bend at the statement. As she waited for anything a voice sounded out,

" **So the little pony says she's not afraid. Very interesting.** " the voice came from everywhere and it sounded like Soler but different, very different. Then out the corner of her eye, she saw something white and when she went to look she could see Soler standing there with his back turned to her. Even though it was Soler she stayed on guard as she approached him,

"Soler is that you?" she questioned. His ear twitched at her voice and looked back at her his expression was confused,

"You shouldn't have come her Luna," he said back sternly.

"I shouldn't have come here? Love you look in pain every time I see you. I couldn't just sit back and watch anymore." she said back. Soler fully turned to look at her, 

"So what you're saying is that you don't trust me. I keep telling you everything is fine and you just won't believe me. I thought we had trust Luna." he said back. Luna shook her head,

"But everything is not fine. I can see it, I can feel it. Soler please why won't you just tell me what it is that's wrong. Maybe I can help, maybe I-"

"Did it ever cross in that thick skull of yours that I don't want your help. Or that I don't need your help. So high and mighty you never thought about the simple answers did you?" he spat back. His words hurt, they hurt so much but just something about it she couldn't believe. No, she wouldn't believe that this was how he really felt. It then dawned on her what was happening and all the pain she felt disappeared just as quickly as it came and her calm expression came back as she stared at him,

"If this was your ploy to break me then you have failed horribly. Now show yourself for who you are!" she demanded. Soler stared at her for a long few seconds until his serious facade broke and he started to laugh. It was slow at first but it grew into an uncontrollable laughter. But this wasn't pleasant laughter no this was a sick and twisted type of laughter that made her skin crawl. Once he eased he had a hand placed over an eye,

"Man pretending to be that guy is so hard. I just don't know how he does it." he said to himself, he turned his attention back to Luna who stood ready, "But fine **I was done pretending either way.** " Luna gasped as when he moved his hand his eye was a ghostly white. She watched as his other eye followed suit and soon his quills lost their gleaming white and were replaced with a sicking black and the blue hue's changed to white. He stood before with a toothy grin,

" **Well fake what do you think? I'm far better than the other me right?** " he asked. Luna was shocked to be said the least but now she lit her horn up which made him look at her questionably,

"So you are the one that's causing him all this harm?" she asked. He continued to smile and gave a mock bow,

" **That would be me fake. Yet truthfully I have to thank you as much for helping. It wouldn't have gotten this far without you.** " he answered. Now it was Lunas turn to look confused on two accounts,

"Firstly why do you keep calling me fake, and second how have I helped in his development. I've done nothing but try to help." Dark Soler laughed at hearing that,

" **Oh yes, you've helped me quite a lot. By forcing his focus to elsewhere he's had a harder time keeping me from taking full control. You constantly asking whats wrong and him wanting to tell you, oh so much whats going on but him being him doesn't which only makes you worry more. And the more you worry the more guilt he gains for not telling you, yet that hero thing makes him push it aside to keep you protected. It just goes around and around and around these thoughts, which keeps his focus off of me so I can just come back and remind him I"m right here waiting for his will to weaken enough for me to step on through. The other part I could care less enough to tell you fake. But thank you nevertheless.** " he responded. Luna's mind was racing now, hearing that she's been helping this thing hurt her Soler. Guilt filled her at not just letting it go and waiting like Sonic and Shadow told her but now that she knew should she just confront him. But if she does that could add to the stress and add to helping 'him' and she couldn't allow that. But if she just hit at the root of the problem and take this thing out now then it could be all solved. Right? She had to choose something but she remembered he refused to answer why he called her fake. It was a small concern but at this point figuring anything out would be worth it. It took not but another second of thought to realize what he meant,

"So you said I've aided you in keeping Soler's attention off of you. I thank you for telling me so now I know how to handle it this." Dark Soler rolled the eyes she couldn't see,

" **I highly doubt that.** " he mocked,

"But in you're rush to tell me all that I've done to help you. You've neglected to answer why you called me fake. But I think I know why you do." she said. He stared at her with sudden intensity but stayed silent,

"You call me fake because of her. Because of the Luna, you lost before me-" she couldn't finish her sentence sent faster than a blink he grabbed her by the throat and was lifting her off her feet. His eyes were blazing with rage as his grip was crushing her windpipe,

" **Don't you dare speak her name! You know nothing of her and are just some stand-in for him to fill the void she left. Don't think for a moment that the pitiful feeling he has for you applys for me! If it was up to me you should be dead for even sharing the same name.** " Luna was gagging for air now tears slightly falling. He watched her squirming form and after another second let her go to fall on the ground. Luna had never felt so vulnerable and weak before as her throat burned as she took in air. She must have forgotten a risk of this that if she knew she would have been more cautious when entering. Dark Soler walked away from her the sight of her being was making him sick.

" **The only reason I'm letting you live now is because of the speck of pity I have for you.** " he spat at her,

"I think it's more because you know what would happen if he found out you killed her." The voice wasn't Luna but Dark Soler winced at it,

" **Great you show up.** " Luna looked to see Soler walking around to stand in front of her. He looked completely normal yet he held a knowing look.

"You know what he would do and how much he cares for her. Even if you don't care for her you wouldn't go that far," he spoke factually. Dark Soler groaned,

" **Whatever, if you're here to take her away please do. I'm getting sick looking at the both of you** ," he responded turning his back to them. Soler shook his head and turned to look down at Luna who was thoroughly confused. He held his hand out to her,

"Please come with me, Princess." Luna felt no ill will coming from him so she placed her hoof in his hand and the moment she did she was brought back into the white void she started in. She stood up highly confused on everything that happened but Soler put up a finger to silence any questions,

"I know you are confused and trust me if I had time to answer them I would. But you need to wake up soon since it's almost daybreak. Now when you awaken whether you decide to tell Soler any of what you saw is up to you. Just know that what the other guys said is true about his attention being split weakening the barriers he's built to keep him caged. If he breaks free it'll be bad for everyone trust me, but don't let that stop you from trying to talk to and help Soler. He his a very stubborn hedgehog much like you know and he doesn't value his own self-worth much. I think you could help with that so I ask you to not give up on him. Now I believe it's time for you to go now, Princess." He was about to wave his hand but Luna stopped him with a hoof,

"Wait, I know you don't have time to answer all my questions but let me ask, what part of him are you?" he looked at her and smirked,

"I'm his conscious of course." and with that, he waved his hand making everything fade from view and Princess Luna awoke on her bed in a sweat. She took a moment to ease her heartbeat and take in her surroundings. She was still in her room and the sun was peeking over the horizon meaning Celestia was up by now. She looked down to see Wolf was still snoozing soundly meaning she hadn't made a noise while she was entranced. She placed a hoof up to her neck the lingering feel of his cold grasp was fresh in her mind. She did her best to shake the feeling of him but remembered the words he and the conscious told her. A knocking on the door shook her from her thoughts,

"Come in." the door opened and in walked a maid who bowed after walking in,

"Princess you're sister wanted to let you know that Twilight and her friends accompanied by Sonic and his friends. Twilight requested you and your sister be present for a demonstration of sorts. They are said to be arriving by the early morning." she said. Luna was panicking on the inside. The thought of seeing Soler so soon after learning what she's learned, she wasn't so sure on how to act. She noticed the maid still there and gave her a small smile,

"Thank you for letting me know. I shall be present when the time arrives." Luna answered. The maid smiled and bowed back before leaving and shutting the door behind her. Luna eased herself the best she could, getting worried and nervous about his arrival wasn't going to help her any. While she pondered she felt movement next to her. So looked to see Wolf was beginning to wake up from his slumber. She watched him with a smile as he stretched and did a cute yawn. She scratched his head much to his approval,

"I'm glad you slept so soundly. Your master will be coming over today so I think we best get a move on hmm?" Wolf bark happily and jumped off the bed his tail wagging as he stood by the door. Luna simply followed his lead and worry about what to do with Soler when the time arrives.

On the train coming from Ponyville, the Mane 6 plus Sonic, Shadow, Soler, and Knuckles were lounging about waiting until they arrived at Canterlot. Well everyone was lounging beside Sonic who was sporting his usual shade of gray as he was sprawled out on his seat. Rainbow, of course, was rubbing his head trying her best to help the poor hedgehog. They were all doing their things bur Soler was staring absentmindedly out the window. He hadn't spoken much since they all gathered even though the whole reasons they were going to see the princesses was because of him.

 _*** Earlier ***_

Soler was sitting and watching as the group that gathered was discussing his problem. Without asking his opinion.

"Soler still lacking his abilities is very concerning," Twilight added. Shadow and Sonic had just gotten done telling them all of his lack of power, but he didn't talk about the other things much to Soler's request. Sonic figured asking the others on what to do was better than letting Soler 'handle' things on his own.

"Yeah which is why we're here. So anyone got any suggestions?" Sonic asked. The group of friends went silent in thought,

"I would say I could try and do some research on this but I've never dealt with Chaos Energy before nor has Equestria so I doubt there would be anything," Twilight spoke up.

"What about we try some healing magic? That couldn't hurt right?" Starlight suggested. Healing magic was as good an idea as any.

"I doubt that would work," Shadow said plainly. Starlight looked at him confused,

"Why wouldn't it?"

"From what I've read up on magic and its properties, healing magic is best used to ease physical pain and illnesses. In Soler's case his problem is more internal than external so I doubt it would be effective," he answered. She wanted to argue but Shadow was right in a sense. The room was silent again as everyone went back to thinking. Well, it was until Rainbow came to a realization,

"Wait a minute. So you're powers have been gone for a while now right? That means when we fought a few days ago you didn't go easy on me, you just couldn't use your powers." she stated earning some groans from her friends. Soler chuckled at that,

"Yep, you had a major handicap and you still lost," he responded back. Dash slumped in her seat the fight replying in her head with the added fact she had the advantage.

"Rainbow aside we need to Soler back in-fightin' shape. That Eggman feller is a true threat so getting his powers back should be a concern." Applejack said. Everyone nodded except Soler who just watched with a blank expression.

"Exactly so any ideas could be good ideas," Sonic said. This time Knuckles responded back,

"Why don't we just have him got Super? When you guys have turned before any damage you had before goes away and after you're back in peak health," he suggests. Sonic popped himself on the head,

"Of course the emeralds how could I be so dumb," he said to himself. The girls looked at them with curiosity. This wasn't the first time of hearing about this super form but they never went into detail over it,

"Can you all please explain this Super form you're talking about?" Twilight asked.

"Well, basically it's one of the many of gifts granted by the Chaos Emeralds when they are all gathered together. When they are together and the being has control over them then they can harness their power to gain unimaginable power. When going Super our quills turn golden and we become invisible plus have some other cool powers." Sonic explained. After the explanation, all of the girls were very curious to see this Super form. Sonic walked over to Soler,

"Alright let head out of town and-"

'Wait!" all attention went back to Twilight, "If we're going to do this I think we should show the princess this as well. I'm sure they would be quite interested in seeing this transformation." she suggested. Sonic didn't like waiting but he knew that the heavenly sisters could give some insight to his problem if they saw. But that also meant riding the train and that sent a shiver down his spine.

"Well uh sure I guess," he responded. Twilight jumped with joy and quickly went to send a letter to the princess. After it was done everyone gathered up and heading for the train to head to Canterlot.

 _*** Present ***_

So now he sat and stared out as they neared the city, lost in his own thoughts. It wasn't going to see the princesses that was the problem, it was seeing Luna again after all that happened the last time they met. She was pretty upset at him and he knew not to push a woman too far when their mad at you but this was completely out of his control so he was forced to just for the ride. As he stared Fluttershy couldn't help but notice his behavior and much like her element she had to go over and see what was wrong. She sat down next to him which caused him to glance over at her. He saw it was her gave a smile and went back to staring.

"So going to be glad to see Tails? He's been cooped up working for the past few days so I'm sure he'd be happy for the company." Soler said breaking the silence. Fluttershy grew flustered thinking of the twin-tailed fox and how she had missed him,

"Yes, seeing Tails again will be very pleasant. I'm sure he's been working hard so spending some time with him will feel good on both sides," she responded back with a smile. Soler just nodded and continued his staring.

"But I didn't come to talk about Tails, I wanted to see what is bothering you?" she asked. Soler knew she was just being her kind self but he just didn't want to open up now about his and Luna argument.

"Well just thinking on this plan and wondering if it's going to work," he answered giving a half-truth. She seemed to accept this and nodded back in agreement,

"That's understandable. If I could be honest I'm worried about this not working either. You've seemed a bit down lately and I wanted to ask you about it but with this, it makes sense on why you would be. I do hope it works for you." she said placing a hoof on his hand. Soler smiled as he looked at the gentle pegasus and patted her hoof,

"Thanks, Flutters." as the two shared their little moment they felt the train come to a lurching stop followed by the whistle blow signaling they had arrived. The moment the train stopped everyone saw a blue blur exit the train leaving a small gust behind it.

"Well Blue boy is back," he said gaining a giggle form Fluttershy. The two got up from their seats and followed the rest out of group off the train and two the princesses.

The group walked into the main hall of the princesses castle leading to the thrones. They all walked in and was greeted by Celestia who sat alone on her throne. They all bowed before her in which she bowed back,

"It is good to see you all. Now, what is the cause for this sudden meeting you requested." Celestia asked. Twilight stepped forward,

"Princess, as you might or might not know that after the battle with Neo, Soler sacrificed a lot for his victory. This included using his abilities. With Eggman showing up and showing how much of a threat he is getting Soler back in shape is going to be beneficial in making sure we can ensure our victory against him. Also, he is a friend and knowing he is in a state of distress doesn't sit right with me or the others." she started. Celestia honestly looked surprised and concerned,

"I did not know of this. I had gotten reports over the battle but knowing that he was still powerless is very concerning. Especially since the battle happened so long ago." she gazed to Soler and to the rest it was a look of concern but to him, he could feel the hidden meaning of knowing why her sister was upset with him.

"Yes, which is why we come up with the plan of using the emeralds to try and restore his power. Sonic has said that when all seven of the emeralds come together they can cause miracles. I thought that you and Luna would want to bare witness to this." she added. Celestia thought briefly of this,

"Since they have come into this world the Chaos Emeralds have been a source of wonder and concern for not only me but my sister also. Being able to witness their power firsthand would be a historical moment for Equestria." Celestia mused. At this point, Luna walked into the throne room with Wolf following right behind her. She instantly locked eyes with Soler and the two shared a brief look of concern before looking away. Wolf, on the other hand, bounded over to the group tail wagging happy to see them all. He got a series of pets and attention from them all which helped lighten the mood. While Wolf was reacquainting himself Celestia updated Luna on the turn of events and the princess of the night was definitely interested.

"Seeing the Emeralds at work would be extremely beneficial. Especially if they can-" her previous conversations still fresh in her memories made her stop her sentence, but her sister understood and simply nodded. The two turned their attention back to the group who had focused back on them,

"We agree to watch this demonstration. If there is something you all need then please tell us." Luna said. Shadow stepped forward,

"All we need is an open area," he said.

"The gardens behind the castle would work nicely. If there is nothing anything else let us get moving." Before they traveled Fluttershy raised her hoof,

"Princesses if you would be so kind. Is there any way I could go see Tails," she asked quietly. Celestia smiled and nodded,

"Of course. We'll have a maid come and take you down to his quarters. I'm sure he would be happy to see you." Fluttershy smiled and stayed behind while the others followed the princesses. The two rulers lead them out behind the castle and into the gardens. It was a beautiful and well-kept garden that was more than spacious enough for what they were planning. There were some benches also for the spectators to sit on and watch the magic happen.

"Alright Soler time to see if this works," Sonic told him. Soler just nodded and he, Sonic and Shadow walked out to the middle of the area away from the group. Sonic and Shadow summoned the three emeralds they were holding while Soler took out the one he had. Sonic and Shadow stepped away from him as he focused on the power of all seven emeralds. They floated and began to rapidly circle around the hedgehog who had his eyes closed focusing on the power. They all glowed brightly as they circled him and even from the distance the others were at they could feel the raw power all seven jewels were giving off and it was definitely powerful. They emeralds all suddenly embed themselves into the hedgehog,

"This is where the magic happens." Knuckles whispered to AJ. Once the emeralds entered Soler everything went quiet. Even for those who have never seen the process of going Super could tell something was wrong. They all watched Soler scrunch up his face in pain and effort and he was sweating profusely. When he hit one knee Sonic and Shadow ran over to him,

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked. Trough strained breathes Soler responded,

"N-need you to...siphon off e-energy," he said. Sonic and Shadow both placed hands on his shoulders and they began to try and take off some energy from him. The group watched withheld breaths as now with Shadow and Sonic help all of the hedgehog's quills were slowly starting to get a golden glow. The aura of all three hedgehogs was incredible as the glow intensified and then all together all threes energy burst and a wave of powerful energy surged through the entire area. The equestrians all looked in awe as now all three hedgehogs quills had turned golden and they all shared Shadows crimsons eyes. Soler's and Sonic's quills all turned upright as their transformations completed. The power they were giving off enough made some of the girls take a step back. None had felt power like this before and the only time that could come close was when Twilight held all the magic of the other princesses, and even then this power surpassed that time.

 _This is the power of Chaos Emeralds._ Luna thought amazed by them. The three stood and looked at themselves,

"Man it's been a long time since I've felt this power," Sonic said,

"Same here Blue," Soler added. Shadow looked at Soler as sternly as he was before,

"How do you feel?" he asked. Soler balled a fist and eased as he felt the power coursing through him. He genuinely smiled for the first time and in the next second, he rocketed himself into the sky shooting himself up at blinding speeds causing several booms to be heard for miles. Sonic chuckled,

"I guess that means he's feeling better," he said but then Sonic began to notice that something felt different about this transformation than his last.

"Hey Shadow does being super feel a bit, different this time around?" he asked. Shadow also felt the difference and nodded,

"It does feel different than before. I don't feel that tug of a time limit, unlike the other times," he spoke.

"Yeah same here. I feel the power but I don't feel rushed to stay transformed. It almost feels natural." he responded. As they were musing over their forms the rest of the ponies plus Knuckles made their way up to them all astonished in their own way. The closer they got even those without magic felt overwhelmed by them. Sonic smiled at their faces,

"So what do you think of our Super Forms girls?" he asked.

"You guys just feel so powerful," Rainbow said.

"You guys are all glowy now." Pinkie chimed in.

"Where did Soler go?" Luna asked. Sonic looked up into the sky and pondered the question briefly,

"Eh, the way he shot off probably to the moon and back? Maybe the sun now that I think about it," he responded. Some of the girls did a double take at that,

"Did you say the moon? Or the sun? That's not possible. The fastest any pony has been able to reach was the moon and that was Princess Luna. For him to go to the moon or sun that fast then the speed he'd be going would be-"

"A bit under lightspeed. Yeah in these forms our speed is increased a thousandfold. I've never really pushed the form to see how fast it could go through." Sonic said cutting off Twilight. Before anyone could rebuttal Luna jumped slightly then blushed right after,

"Sister are you al-" then Celestia jumped after and the same blush, though with a more composed face, showed up. The girls were confused until in the next second a golden light raced towards them from the sky. Soler came down to hover and landed before them with a strange looking white rock in his hand.

"You took longer than it should have to go to the moon and back," Shadow said. Soler simply shrugged,

"Hey what can I say I was curious to see their solar-system. And let me tell you it is completely different than ours. Oh also here Twilight got ya a moon rock." Soler tossed the stunned alicorn the rock in which she caught it with her magic.

"I would have gotten you something from the sun but uh it's mainly molten stuff, so it's kinda hard. But any like I was saying their universe-"

"You went to the moon!?" Twilight snapped out of her shock. Soler looked to her confused,

"Yes. Are you upset about it?" he asked. Twilights shock turned to amazement and a quill and paper suddenly appeared out of nowhere,

"Upset? Are you kidding me! You went to the moon and sun in under a minute and are completely fine. I want to know more about what this super form can do." she responded with a bright smile. Soler chuckled at her enthusiasm,

"Well, we'd be happy to tell you about them, right boys?" Sonic and Shadow both nodded which made Twilight squee in glee. The others watched her little display in amusement especially Shadow. The hedgehog deformed and felt completely rejuvenated,

"Well if you want to know more I'll tell you all I know. While the other two can demonstrate some things," he told her. Twilight nodded and got her scroll ready,

"OK, so can you go through a list of what these forms can do?" she asked.

"The forms allow the ability to fly at lightspeeds, complete invulnerability, enhance all chaos abilities, our physical attributes are at incredibly high levels, we-"

"What you're basically saying is that in this state you are on the same level as a god?" Celestia intervened him. Shadow merely nodded,

"Yes, Princess. In these forms, we have battles godlike deities and won. This is our ultimate trump card." he explained. Celestia nodded though a part of her didn't like that these forms, no these emeralds power far surpassed that of the what the elements could do. She knew that they were powerful but to see what all seven did together could be very troubling if they were placed in the wrong hooves.

"The emeralds power is basically unlimited. One emerald is enough to give a significant power boost to the welder plus its energy never runs out. Heck with all seven we've even brought beings back to life." Soler casually said floating in the air. That revelation brought a new wave of worry to both Princesses.

"Y'all have brought someone back to life with those emeralds?" AJ questioned. Soler nodded,

"Yep. We brought back Sonic here after he got killed by this Mephiles guy. Remember that Sonic and you're 'rebirthing'." Soler teased. Sonic rolled his eyes,

"Yeah, I remember clearly. It was very cold dieing," he responded remembering the incident. Rainbow flew up into his face concern written all over her face,

"You died!?" she exclaimed. Sonic just placed his hands up gently,

"Easy Dashie, as you can see I'm fine. I got revived and we fixed everything no problem," he told her.

"Yeah RD cheating death is what hedgehogs do best. Actually, now that I think about it all three of us has died and come back." Soler said, the last part to himself. There was a pause in the conversation and the Mobians watched the gears turning in the ponies eyes after learning all this. The boys themselves though knowing as much as they do are still learning things about them. Their power is grand and sadly it can be used by most since they work off of emotion for living creatures and can power anything if harness correctly. Which the good Doctor know how to do quite well. They have seen the power Neo held welding them and he was a creation of his, and Neo gave them all quite the hell. Soler yawn broke them from their thoughts.

"Bored?" Sonic teased. Soler shook his head,

"No not really just a bit tired is all. Actually, I was expecting us to deform by now but were not. Isn't that a bit weird?" he asked.

"Yeah Shadow and I were thinking the same thing. I wonder if its because we're in a different dimension." he pondered.

"Do you mind explaining why it is uncommon for you to be able to sustain these forms?' Luna asked, " If you can achieve this much power I would assume you'd want to stay in these forms." Soler floated over her,

"Well love, what we mean is that back in our world we can barely maintain of little over three minutes give or take. Under the right circumstances then we could go longer but normally we last for around that long. Of course, because our power is boosted so much we can end fights within the time, but yeah this is the longest I've stayed in it. The strangest part is that it feels so natural." he explained. She looked surprised,

"And is that?"

"It's because of how much power the emeralds are giving to us I think. Either our bodies can probably handle only so much or the emerald limits us. The fact we seem to be able to maintain these form effortlessly is shocking." he added. Celestia nodded in understanding,

"That makes sense. This power would be too much on the normal pony with one so having a time limit for all seven is a fair trade off," she explained getting nods of approval.

"Makes as much as any. Anyway, we should deform and see if it effects worked." Sonic said. Soler nodded and he and Sonic both deformed feeling as refreshed as ever. Then all eyes were Soler who looked back them confused,

"What?"

"Did it work?"Twilight asked. Soler looked at his hand focusing his energy and then formed a spear. Everyone cheered seeing he was healed and the plan worked. Luna especially felt a weight leave her heart knowing that he was back at full power. Sonic patted him on the back,

"Good to have ya back." Soler smiled and nodded,

"Good to be back. Now let's go inside so we can further discuss these emeralds and future plans huh?" they all agreed and began their way back to the castle with Soler lagging behind. Everyone chatted in a more upbeat mood now that a friend was held. After a minute Luna noticed Soler was uncharastically quiet especially since he was back to normal. The Princess took a glance behind and her heart dropped,

"Soler!" she shouted making everyone look back. They looked to see the white hedgehog laying on the ground completely unconscious.

 _Whew man back from the dead with this one huh? Eh, I was having a lot of trouble with this one especially since I added a whole two DLC's worth of characters to the story. I've realized that the more characters in my stories the harder it is for me to handle them all together since I feel every character should have some screen time. It's the more or less the same problems I'm having with the Mobius and Equestria story with some other things which Is why I'm going to put that story on a pause for a bit until I plan some things out. But you can expect the Fairy Tail story to be getting updated more regularly since I'm having fun coming up things to happen in that story. Hopefully, I'll have some more of this one up too but who knows. Also don't be afraid to review! Anywho this has been Solerwolf...later!  
_


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